


Equalization

by muuchan



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-14 23:29:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7195604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muuchan/pseuds/muuchan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Gaius and Jude take tiny steps to a place of equality...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rose Argent (roseargent)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseargent/gifts).



> Happy NoFM, RoseArgent! I hope this fic is to your liking! It took me a while to figure out what to write, and then I did, and this happened.... 
> 
> Also, special thanks to my beta, NightsMistress, who looked this over more than once just seriously stuck with me through this! Any other mistakes left are mine...

 

 

At some point, Gaius’ study of Elympion culture had to come to an end. There was, after all, only so much time he could spare from his duties as King of Rieze Maxia.  Rowen was completely capable of handling Rieze Maxia’s affairs in Gaius’ absence so long as he made himself available via GHS, and had learned to call multiple times to compensate for Gaius’ repeated failures to operate the device as designed. However, he needed to return because the longer he spent as Erston Outway, the more that his attentions were divided between being a playboy aristocrat persona and his true responsibilities as king.

When he was in Elympios, he was Erston Outway, and not Gaius.  The Elympion government was aware of him being Erston by now, but through some kind of suppression they managed to keep his true identity from the mass media. Gaius did not pretend to understand how Elympion media worked, at least _for now_ , only that this suppression benefited his cause at the moment. There would be a time, he told himself, when he’d be able to understand it and wield it when needed.

For now, however, he appreciated the freedom it gave him to study Elympion culture.

There would be a time when he could no longer go through Elympios freely, but for now he was content to mingle with its people.

This was how Jude found him, though he was not necessarily _mingling_ with anyone when Jude chanced upon him. Gaius was instead busy trying to press every button possible on his new touch phone in an attempt to answer Rowen’s call. His GHS was a recent model. The pace at which Elympion companies updated their devices baffled him. While he appreciated the new functions they added, re-learning how to sufficiently operate each new device was not particularly pleasant.. (The call had dropped off already, with him not being anywhere close to figuring out how to answer, but once Gaius started something, he certainly tried to finish it one way or another.)

“…Gaius? Why are you hunched over beside a fruit stall?”

“Jude.” With every bit of dignity he could muster, Gaius faced Jude and tried to pretend he had not spent the last few minutes struggling, and failing, with his GHS.  “I did not expect to see you here.”

Jude crossed his arms and hummed. “I think I should be saying that too.” His eyes darted and homed in on the GHS in Gaius’ hand. “Are you… having problems with that?”

Gaius steeled himself so he would not react to the question.“In a manner. Yes. I suppose so.”

“…Do you need help?”

 _No._ He answered automatically in his mind while he pressed his lips shut. As much as it annoyed him to admit, denying that he needed help meant wasting more time figuring out the mechanics of this device. That, he could not afford. After a few moments of silence, he held the offending device out for Jude to see.

“So…” Jude looked at the GHS and then up at him expectantly.

“I cannot seem to answer my calls.”

“ _Oh_.” Though Jude did not voice it, Gaius had an idea what kind of thoughts crossed Jude’s mind at that moment. ‘ _I should have known._ ‘ He did not fault Jude for that, for Gaius himself detested the fact that he could not master these GHS as easily as he did everything else.

Jude sidled next to Gaius. “This is a new model that came out last month…. Did your old one break?”

Gaius had, admittedly, broken several phones before by accident. “No. But I was told this had ‘ _apps_ ’ that made organizing schedules and the like easier. It was highly recommended by several of my Elympian contacts. Even the reviews by some Rieze Maxians were quite favourable. An upgrade seemed beneficial.”

 “I thought you worked on certainties, not possibilities—“

Gaius’ eyebrow shot up as he levelled a careful gaze on Jude.

“…Forget I said anything. “ Jude murmured with an apologetic smile.Whatever it is that Jude truly meant by that, he seemed altogether remorseful. Judging from that smile alone, that was.  “I’m not sure how I can show you without someone calling but-“

Before Jude could finish, Gaius’ GHS began to vibrate and sound. On the screen, Rowen’s name appeared. 

“Talk about luck.” Jude let out a laugh before going on to describe the GHS screen for Gaius.  “See this bar? You don’t press it. With this model, you press your hand over here and slide it to the right until you hit the end. There- see?”

“I see.”

 _“Ah, I see you’ve finally managed to answer.”_  Rowen paused and even without seeing him, Gaius recognized the smile in his voice. “ _But I suppose I should be thanking Jude beside you, shouldn’t I?”_

Gaius resisted the urge to grumble. He turned to Jude questioningly.

“He must have heard me, I mean, I was talking while I answered it, right?” Jude turned to the GHS. “Don’t worry, Rowen. I made sure to show him exactly how to answer.”

“ _Yes, good. We can’t exactly have the almighty King of Rieze Maxia’s time monopolized by a mere GHS.”_

“Rowen.” Gaius did grumble.

“I think Gaius should be able to answer your calls just fine—“ Jude interrupted. “At least, until the new model comes out.”

Gaius turned sharply at Jude, who smiled innocently at him before stepping away. “Anyway, I have some shopping to do. I’ll leave Rowen and you to it.”

_“Have a good day, Jude.”_

“Yeah, you too, Rowen.” Jude turned to Gaius and made a little waving gesture with his hand. “See you around, Gaius.”

Gaius nodded once. “I thank you for your assistance, Jude.”

“It was nothing. It was the least I could do, right? ”

Gaius watched Jude walk away, disappearing into a corner that led to the food market, just as Rowen began detailing the reason for his call.  It wasn’t anything particularly crucial, just minor matters that needed ironing and that could be done over the GHS with little consequence. If it had been anything serious, Gaius would have headed to the station and booked a train back to Marksburg. The two of them were in agreement that if it were anything sensitive or important, then it must be dealt with in-person, lest they be overheard or spied upon. Gaius didn’t trust the GHS technology completely, a sentiment that was probably borne from his inability to easily master it but one that Rowen agreed with wholeheartedly.

He hadn’t expected to see Jude again that day. But as luck would have it, they found their paths crossing again quite literally on Gaius’ way to a pub. He’d meant to grab dinner there and it was always most informative to share a conversation or two with the patrons there.

“Gaius. Hi again, I guess.” Jude scratched the back of his head with his free hand and gave him a little smile in greeting. In his other hand, he held a paper bag; Gaius could see pasta and some kind of leafy vegetable peeking  out from it. “Didn’t think we’d catch each other again.”

“Likewise.” Gaius nodded. “Dinner?”  He tilted his head to gesture towards the bag in Jude’s arms.

Jude looked down at his bag and smiled sheepishly. “Yeah. Once in a while, I feel like taking a break from the lab and cooking for myself.” 

“A change of scenery is often beneficial.” Gaius crossed his arms and nodded in agreement.

“… Is that why you’re here too then, Gaius?”

“Hmm?” Gaius arched an eyebrow.

“Here, in Trigleph. Did you need a breather too?”

“Not necessarily. There is, after all, still much to learn about Elympions.” Gaius answered, though after a few short moments of careful thought. That was, he decided, a satisfactory response. At the very least, Gaius didn’t think he was here for something merely a _breather._

He noticed Jude’s thoughtful gaze on him. “What is it?”

Jude shook his head. “Oh, nothing.” He rearranged his hold on the bag and then continued, “Listen. I kind of bought a lot of ingredients. They were on sale and I thought I’d make extra food to bring to work when I go back but… how about having dinner with me?”

“Dinner…?” Gaius echoed.

Jude nodded. “Yeah. Dinner.” Jude looked to his side and Gaius noticed the slight reddening of his cheeks. “It’s … kind of nice having someone to eat with.”

“You’ve no need to feel obligated to invite me,” Gaius said simply. He didn’t doubt Jude had other people to call on if he wanted company.

“Obligated—“ Jude blinked at him before shaking his head vehemently. “No – no. I’m inviting you because I want to!”

“And what of your other friends?”

“Leia’s doing overtime tonight. She’s cutting her deadlines close again. Alvin’s over at Rieze Maxia right now. And you know where Rowen and Elize are,” Jude explained. “I do usually ask them if they want to eat at my place when I’m free…. _And_ up to cooking something up.”

 _No preferential treatment, is that it?_ Though, he supposed, it was only a fair answer considering his question.

“Very well.”  Gaius uncrossed his arms. “I will keep you company.”

 “You don’t have to say it like that....” Jude’s cheeks flushed a little.  

 

* * *

 

Dinner with Gaius was definitely the last thing on Jude’s mind when he returned to Trigleph today. If it was, even, at all possible to have in his mind in the first place. Gaius _was_ the King of Rieze Maxia, after all, and Jude was well aware you didn’t normally ask royalty to dinner back at your apartment He asked, anyway, and for his spontaneity, dinner was just a little bit more nerve-wracking than usual as a result.

“Sorry, I don’t have anything stronger than this. I hope you don’t mind,” Jude said, as he handed Gaius a can of the only kind of beverage he had in his fridge: carbonated napple juice.

“Not at all. Thank you. For the drink _and_ the dinner. It was quite delicious.” Gaius lifted his can up a little in acknowledgement.

“Whew. I’m glad. That was a new recipe.”  He had learned the recipe from Ludger, but hadn’t had the chance to try it out until now. He didn’t tell Gaius, that though. The subject of Ludger, and his sacrifice in the Land of Canaan, was still a sensitive subject for Jude. Not once, Jude wondered if there was anything he could have done to prevent that outcome. He could only imagine how it was for Gaius; he was under the impression that they had become good friends.

“I hardly noticed.” Jude found himself watching Gaius’ long fingers slip through the can’s pull tab and expertly open it. Up until the reunification of Elympios and Rieze Maxia, they hadn’t known what pop cans were and how to open them up. The thought of putting drinks inside pressurized cans hadn’t even crossed their minds.And here Gaius was, opening one with ease. No doubt, he’d had one before, but still the simple gesture fascinated Jude. If he thought about it, he’d probably surprise himself by how much Elympion habits he’d picked up after just two years of living in here. They all were adjusting pretty well to Elympion technology, all things considered. Though, he supposed Gaius not getting a hang of GHSes and other Elympion gadgets was just a picture of how, no matter how much they adapt, there would still be hang-ups.  

“How did … earlier go? There wasn’t any problems back home… right?” Jude inquired. Between managing the clinical _and_ optimizing the spyrite prototypes, he hadn’t had much of a chance to read the news, and if he did, it was usually Elympion news he ended up reading about rather than Rieze Maxian.

“Everything is going well. I would not be here if it were not so… Did you think otherwise?” Gaius’s tone took a playful tone once it got to that question. Jude even recognized a slight smile there. He blinked at Gaius, before slowly mirroring the smile with his own.  He hadn’t thought Gaius would ditch his duties as King at all.

His impression of Gaius was still, admittedly, deeply rooted to the first impression he had of the man. When they first met, Gaius was firm, forceful,  a no-nonsense King who challenged a literal God to right his world. A year after the reunification of Rieze Maxia and suddenly, Jude was able to see a new side of Gaius. As Erston, he smiled more, cracked (dry) jokes, and was surprisingly bad-tempered when on the verge of losing. He couldn’t even use a GHS with 100% efficiency. These were aspects of Gaius Jude would have never associated with him in the first place and, as a result, he still had a bit of a hard time reconciling both sides of him.

 “I think I actually thought you were so capable, you don’t even need to be back home to run your country,” Jude answered truthfully. He took a quiet sip from his can and then looked at Gaius… who was looking at him quizzically. The gears in Jude’s head began clicking and before Gaius could say anything – he looked like he was about to – Jude hastily added: “I didn’t mean that as a jab at your ruling abilities, just so you know. I meant that... honestly.”

Gaius seemed to relax at that and a small smile curved on his lips. “Your faith is reassuring.”

Jude sighed and smiled at him, glad to not have offended Gaius.

“How is your research going then? I trust you’ve made good progress?”

 “It’s going... well, I guess.” Jude shrugged. “There are times when progress is rapid and then sometimes – like now – we just have to wait for results. We’re not regressing, at least.” He glanced at Gaius. “I promised you won’t have to do anything and that promise still holds now.”

Gaius nodded in approval.

 They talked about minor things. Gaius was surprisingly well-informed of local Trigleph events and Jude managed to pick up an establishment or two to check out on his next off day – whenever that was – as a result.

“To be honest, you probably know more about Trigleph than I do right now,” he told Gaius. “Though, if you ever wanted to know which elevator in the Spyrite Research building got you to floors faster and where the washrooms are in Helioborg, I’m the man to ask.”

It was a lame joke and one that Jude just threw in on a whim but he was rewarded with Gaius smiling at him. Jude shifted on his feet and tried to hide the mixture of giddiness and embarrassment that smile gave him.  He still wasn’t used to Gaius’ smiles.

“I will keep that in mind, Jude.”

“Mm.”

There was little else to talk about after that. And, really, Jude didn’t want to waste Gaius’ time with too much idle chatter. . Jude regarded Gaius much too highly for that. A king’s time was precious, even if he was, technically, ‘Erston’ right now.

 Later, when they’d said their goodbyes for the night, Jude stood at his doorway to watch Gaius off. Watching Gaius cross the long hallway to the elevator, he wondered if this would be the first and last time he had Gaius over.  It was a strange, but pleasant, experience. One that he probably wouldn’t mind experiencing again.

An idea hit him then and with Gaius steadily closing in on to the end of the hallway, Jude didn’t let himself think too much about it.

He called out, effectively stopping Gaius in mid-step. The King spun around and regarded Jude with a curious, but thankfully not annoyed, look. Still, it had the effect of making Jude want to shrink into himself in embarrassment. He cleared his throat and spoke the words in his mind:

“When you’re in town, give me a call on the GHS. I might be in Helioborg more often than not but if I’m around… Anyway, it’ll be nice to meet up.”

Jude wondered if he’d worded that correctly. In truth, he’d extended the same offer to all of his other friends; Alvin, Leia, Rowen, Elize and the others. If he could, he’d have offered the same to Milla and Muzet too. He’d thought of Gaius but didn’t really know how to bring it up until now.

“Hmm.” Gaius eyed him with scrutinizing eyes and Jude suddenly felt pinned to the spot. Had he worded that wrongly, after all? He tried not to fidget until Gaius spoke again. “Are you, perhaps, lonely, Jude?”

_Oh._

Jude stood a bit straighter on reflex. The question was definitely forward and – he was embarrassed to admit – probably on point. He raised a hand to rub at the back of his neck uncomfortably. _What to say?_

Finally, he sighed.  He thought about deflecting and saying he just wanted to keep the old gang together. But Gaius wasn’t exactly part of the old ‘gang’.  And even if Gaius did end up being caught up in the Land of Canaan business eventually, Jude couldn’t say Gaius had really become their friend. Anyway, if he did answer that, he had a feeling Gaius would just point it all out for him and that would probably put him in a worse position. Milla and Gaius both were like that; they saw through deflections easily and forced you to admit the truth. “I guess I am.”

He thought about the _Why_ behind his answer as he waited for Gaius’ inevitable response. It felt like he was coming up with an excuse. Everyone else was busy. Jude himself was busy. And there were times when, at the end of the day, Jude was just starved for some kind of interaction _away_ from the subject of spyrite research. He was ashamed to admit that too, even if he knew this was perfectly normal and _,_ ultimately, human. He couldn’t remember ever feeling that when he was busy studying medicine at Talim, and that he was now experiencing him, left him wondering if he was doing something wrong. Or if he was inadequate, somehow.

“It is understandable,” Gaius finally said with an air of finality. _I don’t need to hear your exact reason,_ Jude imagined Gaius saying just as easily as those three words. Jude couldn’t help but sigh in relief. “With any huge undertaking, especially when you pour every bit of your time in it, it is only natural to – at times – feel lonely. So I can understand where you stand, Jude.”

“Oh… did you feel like that too, Gaius?”

Gaius crossed his arms and Jude waited with baited breath. “…No. Not at all.”

Jude let out a little deflated sigh. He tried not to look too disappointed after that.

 “ _Oh.”_  He couldn’t help but smile in the end though. “But I guess that fits… with you, anyway.”

Without regarding Jude’s response, Gaius continued. “—But I have seen it with my own people. Unifying two vastly different countries is time consuming. Rowen and I have had to force some of my subordinates to take much needed break from their work. Fatigue, loneliness, desperation, disillusionment – these are only natural roadblocks. So long as you do not let them impede you permanently, they are nothing more but pebbles in the path to your destination.”

Jude watched Gaius with no little measure of awe. He felt personally uplifted by his words, somehow. 

 “I… don’t know what to say.” Jude looked down. His cheeks were probably red from embarrassment.

“You need not say anything.”  Jude could hear the smile in Gaius’ voice and it was followed by the sound of Gaius’ coat swishing. He didn’t need to see it to picture Gaius turning around dramatically. “I will – “ Gaius made a little pause that made Jude look up. He saw the other man look to the side very briefly, as if there was a word he meant to say but didn’t. “—contact you when I am in town.  If I am free.”

After Gaius was gone, Jude – with his hand on his temple, in thought – realized what the little non-verbal blank in Gaius’ last words had to be.

Did Gaius mean to – but refrained to – account for his GHS difficulties?

The thought left a little smile lingering on his face for the rest of the night. Maybe, he thought, it really wouldn’t be a bad thing to get to know Gaius more?

 

* * *

 

Gaius had room at a local hotel and so after dinner with Jude, that was where he went. It was too late to head back to Marksburg – he’d end up rooming at another hotel there, anyway – and even if he’d arrived earlier, it would still take him several hours to reach Fennmont. Not that he really meant to head back to Rieze Maxia so soon. At the very least, he had one more day left in this excursion. Since he was already here, he might as well make use of his time and continue gleaning more from the locale. It was one way of justifying his being here in Elympios again.

 Today was, at least, informative. He glanced down at his lowball glass in his hand and the glistening golden liquid in it.

 _Jude_.

He’d taken Jude’s determination for granted, it would seem. Jude had always impressed him. He was not _strong_ – not like Gaius was, at least – but he made up for it with his focus, his honesty. When Jude claimed he would find another way so that Gaius would not have to resort to drastic measures, Gaius found it _possible_ to believe him. And up until tonight, he’d assumed he need only wait for results and that Jude would deliver without fail.

He failed to take into account the fact that Jude could be worn down by this undertaking.

 _Not everyone is like you, Gaius._ Someone – he didn’t remember who – had told him once. It was true. It was why he became King, why it became his duty to unite Auj Oule and Rashugal. Because he was strong, he was different from everyone else.

“I must watch over him,” Gaius decided. This, too, was part of his duty.

And in the end, it was just another reason to visit Elympios from time to time.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

 

Despite his decision to watch over Jude, urgent matter after urgent matter found their way up Gaius’ priority list. He had very little time for anything else, as a result. Even his sleep took a hit – he found himself back to getting as little as half-an-hour of sleep at some point, though matters had now improved enough for Gaius to be able to sleep four hours at least. Fortunately, Gaius had the foresight to request Rowen’s assistance on the matter. He requested that Rowen check up on Jude once in a while; by GHS, naturally since the Prime Minster could not be spared just as well as Rieze Maxia’s King.

“I trust that you can inquire of his progress _and_ health with subtlety, Rowen. I do not want to alarm Jude,” Gaius had explained to Rowen.

“And I suppose his highness cannot spare a few minutes to do so himself?” There was an amused tone to Rowen’s response and Gaius looked at his Prime Minister suspiciously. He didn’t need to hear it in words to know Rowen was making a jab at his continued inability to _reliably_ make calls through the GHS.

Gaius had grunted, signalling the end of that conversation, while Rowen chuckled at his expense. Despite the exchange, Rowen was true to his word. From time to time, in the past few months, Rowen ended his morning reports with a sentence or two about Jude and his spyrite research and Gaius was satisfied.

Or at least, Gaius _was_ satisfied until he finally met Jude again.

Jude had been invited by the Talim Medical School to give a lecture on spyrites and their possible application in the medical field. Gaius was able to find out as much thanks to Rowen’s intel and, with several hours to spare on his schedule, decided to visit him, even listen to his lecture personally.

He arrived in the halfway through Jude’s presentation and snuck to the back of the hall in order to draw the least attention.  He was decked in his usual imperial regalia – suits, he associated with his Erston persona – and hadn’t bothered to switch into something more inconspicuous. To be fair, even if he had bothered to change, he doubted it would mask his identity any better here in Fennmont. In the chaos that followed Nachtigal’s death, Gaius had stepped in to wrangle the fallen King’s wayward troops and personally dealt with problems throughout the city. He spoke with the people, placated them, and won their trust by being easily accessible during those turbulent times. As a result, the people of Fennmont had become quite familiar with his face. 

“Why do you think spyrite technology can improve spirit artes? Aren’t our spirit artes good enough already?” a student asked shortly after Gaius’ arrival. He took one look of him and then turned his gaze on Jude. It was at this point that Gaius was able to truly study Jude. Even from the distance, he could make out the dark bags underneath Jude’s eyes. He pursed his lips into a frown but kept his silence for now. Jude, after all, had a lecture to finish.

Jude exhaled quickly before tackling that question. “I thought as much myself, to be honest. Even so, I’ve seen with my own eyes how spyrix brought a new dimension to medicine during my stay in Elympios. People who could no longer walk because of spinal injuries. Spyrix gave them the chance to walk again.” Murmurs spread through the crowd and Jude made a simple gesture with his hand to request their silence. He smiled in thanks after they did. “As we all know, spyrix cause spirit death. But spyrites are different –  we have proven, thus far, that they bring no adverse effects to spiritkind. And they are, essentially, an updated spyrix. With that in mind, I believe if we can replicate what current spyrix medicine can do, translate it into spyrite technology… it’ll be to our own benefit.”

A hand shot up from the crowd. “Do you want to replace spirit artes with your spyrites, Dr. Mathis?” The lecture hall erupted in low murmurs again. Gaius was able to pick up some of it. _Does he think Elympion technology is superior to ours too? Does he want us to be like Elympions? I heard he isn’t even fully Rieze Maxian…_

It was nothing Gaius hadn’t heard of before and he looked to Jude for his reaction. The boy’s expression was calm in the face of such dissent.

“I don’t. Nothing could be farther from the truth. What I want is for the two sciences to work together hand-in-hand. There are things only spirit artes can do and things only _spyrites_ can do as well.”

_A compromise_.  Gaius knew, at some point, that compromise would lead to a new technology that was neither spyrite or spirit arte. It was only inevitable. That was further into the future, however, an unknown that, before, Gaius would not have allowed to fruition Jude allowed him to believe in uncertainty; or rather, to believe that in the face of uncertainty, there would be people like Jude and Maxwell who strived to do what was right.  That much, was certain.

He doubted Jude’s words placated those In the hall who held Elympions and their technology in contempt. Pleasant words could not hope to erase the terror Exodus and their Elympion supporters wreaked upon Rieze Maxians. But for now, the crowd seemed satisfied enough to settle down. When Jude entertained several more students’ questions, none of their questions touched on the messy political matters their countries ( _worlds_ , really) were involved in.

After the lecture’s conclusion, Gaius met with Jude outside the hallway where he found the researcher leaning tiredly against a wall, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked every bit a distinguished researcher when he delivered his talk and fielded questions in the lecture hall, but now he was once again merely Jude Mathis, a young man who looked like he’d fall over any moment. Up close, the signs of exhaustion were much more pronounced on Jude’s face.

“That was an informative lecture, Jude.”

“Oh- “ Jude stood away from the wall, looking confused, until he realized who it was that spoke. He gave Gaius a tired little smile. “Gaius? I didn’t expect you’d come and watch my lecture. Now I feel kind of embarrassed…”

“There is nothing to be embarrassed about. It was a well-delivered lecture.”

“Thanks.” And then Jude was sighing heavily, as if he’d been holding it all this time. “I just wish it wouldn’t boil down to some kind of competition between Rieze Maxian and Elympion technologies. We aren’t separated by a schism anymore, it’s all one world now.  The way some of them sound, it’s almost like they want to keep pretending there’s a schism right in the middle of Marksburg.” Jude raked a hand through his hair. “I better start preparing for the trip back…”

“Hm.” Gaius crossed his arms. “You intend to return as soon as possible.”

“Yeah. I’m – _We’re_ on a tight schedule. And frankly, I haven’t used my time all that well this past few days. Preparing this talk was a lot harder than I thought it would be…   I guess I got carried away too. It’s my alma mater, after all.”

Jude darted into the lecture hall quickly after that, grabbing the materials he’d brought with him before ducking back out to bid Gaius farewell.

“I’m sorry. You came all the way here and I… well, have to go. It’s just, it’s a crucial time right now and-” 

“Jude.” One word and it was as effective as Gaius physically reaching out to grab him by the arm to keep him in place. Jude frowned in confusion, clearly wondering about Gaius’ intentions. Gaius didn’t let him speculate for long: “Come to the palace. Dinner will be served.”

“Oh. But…”

“You are tired. That is of no benefit to your cause.” Gaius spoke again before Jude could come up with an excuse. Knowing Jude, and rather well for he held the young man in high regard, it would be something completely logical. Their world’s literal _fate_ hung upon spyrite research’s progression, after all.

If he let Jude talk, perhaps he’d be swayed into believing a little sacrifice on Jude’s part was a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things. The benefit of the world over one man’s. Gaius had been willing to lay the ruins of Elympios at his people’s feet back then and Jude was, all things considered, just one man.

“Hmm…  but is it really alright for me? I don’t want to intrude or something. And it _is_ the palace, right?”

Gaius lips curved into a tiny smile; amused at Jude’s concern.  He shook his head. “Think nothing of it. Come. I shall inform Rowen that you will be joining us.” 

He turned on his heels and began walking, confident that Jude would follow.

“... Rowen? Really? Huh." Jude said thoughtfully, as if he was coming to a realization. For a moment, Gaius thought to ask Jude what he was thinking, but when he heard Jude's footsteps following him he decided it was ultimately irrelevant. 

He reached for his GHS and began working on ‘speed-dialing’ Rowen to have him have the chefs prepare dinner for Jude. It was supposed to be a quick call (and that was the whole point of ‘speed-dialing’ according to Rowen) but five minutes later, he was glaring at the device and nowhere close to having made a call to Rowen.

“Is… something wrong?” Jude asked, coming up next to him. He peered up at him before his gaze eventually fell on the offending device he gripped in his right hand.

“Oh…”

“I cannot seem to make a call,” Gaius admitted.

“I can see that… here, let me.” Jude let out a little laugh, though, when he realized Gaius was watching him he quickly cleared his throat and pretended not to be the least bit amused by Gaius’ predicament.  He took the phone from Gaius’ hand and began fiddling with it.

“There,” Jude said as he handed it back to Gaius less than a minute later. “That should do it.”

After Gaius was finally able to inform Rowen and they were making their way back to Orda Palace, Jude brought it up: “… If you don’t mind. I can teach you how to use the GHS again. Over dinner.”

Gaius grunted. “It will take a while,” he admitted after a few moments’ pause.

Jude smiled and shook his head. “I don’t mind. It’s important for a king to know how to use GHSes, right?”

Gaius subjected Jude to a mild glare, a non-verbal warning that there would be consequences should that line of thought be pursued. Jude, however, didn’t look the least bit cowed by the warning.

In fact, Jude was smiling at him, eyes bright and confident, almost challenging. It lit up his face instantly, momentarily erasing all evidence of fatigue on it.

(It was enough for Gaius to let the tiny infraction slide.)  

 

* * *

 

Jude tapped his pencil repeatedly on the documents in front of him, his mind wandering towards anything but the proposals in front of him. Eventually, he put the pen down to rub at his temple in an attempt to make sense of it all.

It all began that night at Orda Palace, when he’d accepted Gaius’ invitation to dinner. After the main course, and while dessert was being served, the topic of their conversation had gone to GHSes and Jude, on Rowen’s urging, decided to walk through Gaius in the ins and outs of his GHS model. He’d thought that if he explained it in detail, Gaius would – somehow – understand it all better. It was an approach Jude often turned to when faced with difficult topics.

 The fruits of that particular effort remained to be seen, but that wasn’t what Jude found his mind wandering back to nowadays.

Rowen kept giving him meaningful looks and, honestly, looked like he was on the verge of waggling his eyebrows to get some point across. Jude hadn’t thought much of it back then, thinking it was just an extension of his usual playful egging-on of Gaius.

But then, during Jude’s impromptu lecture of Gaius’ GHS functions, Rowen cut in:

_“Perhaps, when you are finished with this lesson, Gaius here will be able to call the people he intends much more easily?”_

Jude had stifled a laugh back then, especially when Gaius did that combination of a growl and a threatening look he so often put on when Rowen teased him. It was all for show, of course, and Jude admittedly thought it was endearing. It certainly kept his mind off whatever Rowen was implying, at least, until later that night when he was staring up from his bed, chasing sleep. And until now.

Naturally, Gaius would have people he'd want to call. It went without saying that he would have reconnected with his sister, Karla Outway, given that he had taken up the name Erston Outway once more. Calling her would be more convenient and practical than visits, and Gaius was always very practical.

Jude had come to that hypothesis before, but just like before, it wouldn’t quite hold up.

Rowen’s  tone was particularly suspect, with that unmistakeable teasing slant. Jude didn’t think  Rowen was the kind of person to tease someone for their desire to speak with family, even if he did take a lot of pleasure in riling Gaius up.

Gaius must have friends, of course. Aside from his circle of friends, he wasn’t sure who else Gaius had, but he liked to think – and hoped – Gaius had other friends.

Though, thinking that he wanted to have friends didn’t quite hold up either. Gaius had Rowen call Jude.  Jude was sure of it now, especially when he thought about how often Rowen called and considering how busy the Prime Minister of Rieze Maxia must be, it didn’t make sense that he’d somehow find the time to call Jude without fail once every few days. Gaius attempt to include Rowen in that invitation to the dinner somewhat strengthened this theory too. But the bottomline was that, Gaius could have had Rowen call his friends for him, so that wasn’t the issue.

Gaius wanted to call someone _personally_. It was someone he couldn’t have Rowen call for him. It could have been Karla, but Rowen wouldn’t tease Gaius about that.

“I guess, if they were friends with Erston instead…” Jude mumbled to himself. He took a piece of scrap paper from a pile and wrote ‘Erston’ on it before drawing a circle around it. “It’d make sense that he can’t let Rowen call them. He can’t have them wondering why the Prime Minister of Rieze Maxia was calling….” He tapped his pen on the paper, leaving inky dots on it. “Or would normal people know _who_ the Prime Minister of Rieze Maxia was…?”

He thought about Leia and journalism and hummed as he thought.

“I guess they would.” Elympions were well-informed thanks to their GHS. Elympion technology, in general, allowed for very fast travel of information. Some people might not know, but a good number of people would be well-informed enough to recognize who the top leaders of Rieze Maxia were.

_Except for Gaius, I guess. They’ve kept that from the mass media so far…._ Jude made a mental note to himself.

He let out a little sigh. He wasn’t sure why he was so worked up about this, it was one of those tiny details he just couldn’t help but be hung up on.

“What else is there?” he muttered as he leaned back on his seat and closed his eyes.

He went through all sorts of possibilities then, things that Gaius would keep from his top aide. Who would he call that he didn’t want Rowen to know? There were so many possibilities, but honestly, not knowing Gaius as well, they were only just that: possibilities.

“Maybe… there’s someone he wants to call because he likes them?” he said out loud and was struck by how ridiculous _and_ somehow possible it sounded all at once.

He tried to picture Gaius, hunched over his phone with a blush on his cheeks, and couldn’t help but, well, be embarrassed for Gaius being embarrassed in his mind. He couldn’t imagine it. But it… that was natural, right?

It was natural to _like_ someone, and Gaius isn’t so far removed from normal people to be immune to something like that… even if he seemed like he was, most of the time.

“But still…”

How would Gaius act, if he did like someone? It made his heart beat just a little faster imagining. There was also the matter of what kind of person would get him to fall for them.

“Someone like Milla…. Maybe,” he thought out loud. But of course, the GHS couldn’t possibly reach Milla in the spirit realm so that ruled her out.

He shook his head then, well aware of just how _far_ his mind had wandered.

“That’s enough…  Even if Gaius had someone he likes, that’s really none of my business…” he sighed. “And besides, that’s probably not it…”

He eyed the scrap paper he’d written the name ‘Erston’ on before taking it into his hands and crumpling it. He had to focus. Not on the matter with Gaius, but on his work. Even if he was curious, it really wasn’t any of his business…

Jude  was able to get back to work, eventually, pushing that problem at the back of his mind. It lingered though, making him pause from time to time to think about it.  He brought up all those theories he had but, admittedly, the theory that led to him wondering about Gaius and romance found itself on the forefront a little too frequently…

Guiltily, a small part of him wondered…

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

 

The months marched by quickly; Jude barely noticed their passing as he toiled on his spyrite research. And with the actual research progressing smoothly (albeit, very slowly at times), Jude soon found that dealing with Elympion businessmen eager to make spyrites _their_ business wasprobablyfar more challenging than implementing the technology. Balan, with his ties to the Svent family and self-confessed familiarity with the cutthroat business practices practiced in Elympios, handled that side of their research project. Sometimes, however, Jude was present; a quiet observer while Balan carefully shot down their thinly veiled attempts at gaining a monopoly on spyrite technology.

Jude was more than capable of identifying the tactical advantage of obtaining a monopoly on cutting-edge technology and how to best go about doing it, however, his response lacked finesse. He was, according to Balan, entirely too honest for his own good and that was why he offered to take over this side of their business. “You have to play into their wants, dear Jude. Give them the impression you didn’t turn them down completely, that way they’ll still be willing to work with you in the future. I’m afraid this is the Elympion way of doing business.”

Sometime during one of these meetings, Jude –who listened to their pitches in detail and even made notes of it anyway – was interrupted by the sound of his GHS buzzing in his coat.

Curious, though without any real intention of answering it, he decided to check the caller ID. That’s when his heart stopped.

_‘Gaius_ ’

In other words, the King of Rieze Maxia was calling him for reasons unknown. Probably something important. He couldn’t imagine Gaius calling him for any other reason. Even when Jude told him he could call him whenever he was at Trigleph, Gaius never called him.  

Jude became aware of Balan’s mild regard. “Jude?”

“I-“ Jude got off his seat. “Sorry, I’ve got an important call. I have to take this. Please, don’t mind me and continue.”

As he exited the conference room, he wondered idly if the businessmen thought it was a call from other companies. Maybe it would be a good idea of they did think that.He wondered how they would modify their pitch when they so clearly wanted to steal the technology from under their competitors’ feet.

Jude took a deep breath to calm himself before answering. “Hello? Is something wrong, Gaius?”

He waited but there was no response. His stomach lurched. There was no conceivable way Gaius could be in danger, but even so he couldn’t help but be concerned. “Gaius?”

He waited again. Jude heard the sound of something rustling (at least he knew the call was still live) and then, finally:

“Jude. For what reason have you called?”

He was momentarily at a loss for words at Gaius’ response. Did Gaius just ask him _why_ he was calling? He detected some kind of concern in that voice too. It didn’t really make sense… unless…

“Gaius…. Uh. Didn’t you call me?” Jude asked, leaning against the nearby wall. He looked up and wondered if _that_ was really the case. Either way, he would find out soon.

“I have not, Jude. I have no reason to do so… at the moment.”

_So if you have a reason to, you would?_ Jude supposed he didn’t really have a reason to all this time, then.

“But… you called me,” Jude insisted, though he made sure to say it as gently as he could.

“No. I would remember if I had.”

Jude recognized the stubborn tone in that. He’d come to recognize it. Gaius had quite a temper, though he was usually very good at keeping it in check. If Rowen didn’t tease him whenever he could, Jude might have never picked up on it. He took a deep breath and was all ready to attempt diplomatically explaining how he couldn’t have made the call since he was in a meeting when Gaius spoke again.

“…My GHS did answer your call extraordinarily fast, however. I hardly even noticed it ringing.”

That made Jude certain.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, where do you usually put your GHS?”

Gaius described his breast pocket and, immediately, Jude had a mental image of the King crossing his arms like a grumpy child, with a frown on his attractive face.  He couldn’t help the bubbling laughter that rose up from his throat moments later. He did try to keep the GHS away as he willed the laughter away, but he heard Gaius’ demands anyway.

“And what exactly is the matter?” 

“It’s just… “ Jude shook his head. Smiling, he continued. “It’s just, I think, you accidentally dialled my number.”

Silence on the other end of the line.

“That’s not possible,” Gaius said firmly after a while.

“No, no. It’s possible. I remember Rowen saying he programmed all our numbers into your phone and—“ Jude stopped himself before he could go into a long-winded explanation of it. “To put simply, your phone has ‘speed-dial’. And… I think you accidentally pressed it.”

More silence on the other end of the line. Jude envisioned more denial oncoming.

“… I. May have heard of the term ‘speed-dial’.” Gaius’ tone was quiet. Jude almost felt bad.

“It was an accident.” _Don’t feel bad._ “I’m sure you didn’t mean it!”

“Were you in the middle of something? I apologize if I intruded.”

“No, no. Not at all,” Jude assured him. “In fact, I think you did me a favour. That meeting was taking a while. I’m glad to have an excuse to leave.”

“Hmm.”

“That must make me sound … well, not good.”

“On the contrary: these are meetings regarding the eventual marketing of spyrite technology. Is it not?” Jude shouldn’t have been surprised that Gaius was able to guess in one go.

“Mm. We’re still a long ways off to that future, but companies are already courting us.” He sighed. “And trying to trick us into signing the rights to technology to them.”

“Politics, then.” Jude had a mental image of Gaius’ grinning.

“I guess so.”

“Are you not fond of it then?”

Jude thought for a moment and sighed when he realized he was probably going to sound wishy-washy with his answer: “I… don’t dislike it. But it _is_ exhausting. I don’t think I could handle having to do these meetings day-in and day-out. I’d much prefer dealing with research. How do you do it, Gaius?”

“I simply do. I suppose you can say that I take pleasure in my work, even.  It is all part of a king’s duty and one step towards the realization of my people’s goals.”

“That’s… That really sounds like you.” Jude paused and then said in a breathy voice filled with awe, “You’re really amazing, Gaius.”

There was a short pause on the other end. “I have had to cut several meetings short before, however,” Gaius said after a while. “There was a time when I met with several Auj Oulian leaders to discuss a peaceful collaboration, only to realize their intent to merely stall me. I answered their attempts with my sword.”

Jude could picture it perfectly in his mind; Gaius laying down the law with his sword drawn and ready to cut down the moment they continued with their nonsense.

“Are you saying… it’s all right for me to do what I just did?”

“I am merely saying that there are times when diplomacy ceases to be viable, or necessary.”

“I… Thank you, Gaius.”

“There is nothing to thank for.”

Jude could not help but chuckle a little when he imagined Gaius’ straight face during that denial.  He couldn’t help thinking out loud, either: “You know… you’re kind of different. From what I thought you’d be like.”

He froze, realizing in an instant he shouldn’t have said that. Before he could form a hasty apology, though, Gaius was asking him, “And what did you think I’d be like?”

Jude thought for a moment, wondering if it was alright to continue down this path of conversation. He answered carefully, “Just. .. different. I don’t think I would’ve imagined you to be someone who… accidentally called someone on their GHS, or doing the normal things I’ve seen you do when you’re going around Elympios as Erston. You were always on a different level… a lot like Milla was. Actually, I’ve always thought you were _like_ her. But Milla’s… well, she’s Maxwell and probably the most powerful being on our plane of existence at the moment,” Jude sighed and rubbed the back of his neck gingerly. “Just. Maybe I thought you’d … it’s probably strange, considering I saw Milla _be_ human, travelling with her all that time, saw her marvel about little things humans do here and there…  but with you, I’d always thought you’d be… different. Firm and absolute. Maybe, almost more like how I imagined Great Spirits would act…”  Gaius was silent. Jude could hear his heart thumping loudly (and hoped Gaius didn’t) as he slowly became more and more certain he shouldn’t have continued.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I _know_ you’re human, Gaius. You’re amazing. You’re probably the most amazing person I’ve met, next to Milla, and I’m glad I’m getting to see other parts of you.” Jude hoped he wasn’t digging this hole further. “Gaius?”

“There is nothing wrong with such sentiments, Jude,” Gaius said, finally.

Jude let out a little sigh of relief.

 “A King must serve as a shining beacon to his subjects. It is his responsibility, in order for his people to accept his leadership. It is not surprising that, as a result, I would leave such an impression on you.”

“I suppose that’s true.” Jude said softly.

“Make no mistake, however. I am human.”

Jude stiffed a little at that statement and he was grateful for the fact that Gaius couldn’t see him. Gaius’ tone was familiar, a tone Jude knew so well that even a hint of it had holding his breath a little. _Disappointment._ Jude brushed it off,  thinking he was just imagining things. His experience with his father made sure he was hyper-sensitive to the possibility of _disappointing_ the people he held in high regard, and he thought he might just be thinking too much about it. They did end up talking about something else after that, though what, Jude couldn’t recall very well. When the call ended,  Jude stood there with a tiny sinking feeling that he’d said something wrong. His mind went back to that tone, wondered with _what_ Gaius could be disappointed with. If he _was_ disappointed.

 He mulled about it until Balan was there and tapping him on the shoulder.

“Caught up on something, hm?”

Jude nearly jumped and he realized he still had his GHS on hand.  “Uh…. I guess.”

“Well, if you must know, the meeting’s done. So how about we discuss what our lovely investors-to-be—should we, in a possible episode of insanity, choose to take up their offer?”  the scientist gave Jude a wink before motioning for him to follow back to their lab. Jude looked down at his GHS and sighed deeply, deciding then and there that he had to abandon that line of thought for now, before following Balan.

Despite his decision, however, he did allow himself to spare a moment to wonder about the piece of information he was confident would make everything fall into place:

What kind of expression was he wearing on the other end of that GHS call?

 

* * *

 

His last conversation with Gaius continued to bother him. Whenever his mind wasn’t filled with research and all the business associated with it (like their budget, the never-ending task of courting sponsors and the like), Jude’s mind wandered back to Gaius and the nagging feeling that he had said something wrong.

“Make no mistake. I’m human,” Jude whispered to himself as he looked at his GHS with no particular goal in mind. Or, rather, he did plan on using his GHS, but then he realized how silly he was being. There was no way he could call up Gaius – the King of Rieze Maxia – just to ask, bluntly, if he’d said something wrong last time they spoke.

Jude was certain Gaius _wasn’t_ avoiding him. They didn’t talk to each other enough for him to notice if the King was avoiding him, in the first place. All he really had to go on was his instinct telling him _he_ said something wrong. The sound of Gaius voice during that call; Jude couldn’t forget. It made his heart clench with guilt when he recalled that tone. He heard that tone enough, from his father no less, to recognize it. He hoped he was mistaken.  

Somehow, thinking like this, Jude realized that they didn’t seem all like they were friends. He didn’t get to know Gaius better, at all. That was why he _didn’t_ know if he’d said something to offend Gaius or not.

If he knew better, if they were better friends, he would know. Or that was what he liked to think.

 “What would Milla do?” he wondered out loud, ignoring the way his heart sank at the thought. (He still missed Milla. He said he’d be fine and he _was_ fine … for about a year. Now, he wasn’t so sure. )

_Milla would never second-guess her words because she always meant what she said._

“Is that what she’d really say…”

He imagined Milla’s voice, lecturing him. Her voice would be steady and confident, because she knew humans _that_ well. So well, in fact, that even Gaius must be easy to read for her. But somehow, he couldn’t make out the words she’d say to him in his mind, even if he could picture her face and imagine her tone.

“Or maybe she’d say I’m over-thinking things again. Gaius is the King of Rieze Maxia, he wouldn’t—“

And that’s when it hit him; the reason he thought he had offended Gaius. That Gaius had had that tone.

“He’s not just the King of Rieze Maxia, is he?” he muttered to himself.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

 

“Jude, take a break. No offense, but you look like death,” Balan told him one day, while Jude was slumped on his desk and desperate for an espresso to keep him awake.

He’d protested, reasoned that he could go on (they were so close to another milestone!), but Balan (and later on Mary) would not budge and together they forced him out of the lab and insisted that he stay away until he had at least twelve hours of sleep.

They wouldn’t even let him sleep at the break room couch and, instead, had him escorted back to Trigleph where he was expected to retire to his apartment.

“I’ll be fine. Please tell Balan I’ll be sure to make my way back to my apartment,” Jude told the guard assigned to him once they hit the crossroads that led to the residential block and commercial blocks. “Besides, I think I want to grab something to eat on the way.”

The guard Balan had enlisted was sceptical but with the right cajoling, Jude was able to win his freedom. Something about being escorted didn’t really sit well with him and he _did_ intend to rest eventually. Just, he was sure he didn’t have any food left and hadn’t been home in weeks so any food he’d left in the fridge must be spoiled by now.

On the way back, after having purchased some convenience store food, his mind unwittingly wandered back to Gaius. He wanted to see him, somehow. To talk. To try and apologize for what he said. He wasn’t sure yet how he would _explain_ but he, embarrassingly, missed their sporadic friendship.

When he saw what he thought was the back of Gaius’ head, he didn’t think much of it. He decided it was his mind playing tricks on him; the product of sleep deprivation and missing the man. He’d imagined Gaius enough lately to admit to himself that he might be hallucinating.

He’d probably walked several more blocks when he realized that, _no_ , that man had to have been Gaius. The clothes matched and –  it took him a while to remember in his sleep-addled state – he _had_ just walked past Ludger’s old apartment complex.

Without thinking, he turned on his heels and ran back as fast as he could.

“Gaius!”

Sure enough, Gaius was there: an imposing figure standing beside the playground in front of the apartment complex and, possibly, scaring off any and all children in the process.

Jude wasn’t sure whether to laugh at the figure he cut or be thankful for the chance to meet with the man again.

“Jude.”

For a few moments, Jude was bent over in an attempt to catch his breath, before he greeted Gaius properly. “I’m glad I caught you.”

“I did not realize I was headed somewhere.” 

Jude smiled at the slight sarcasm and shook his head. “No, I mean. I didn’t think it was you for a while… so I walked past. And then I really thought about it and ran back… I thought you might be gone by now.”

“Hm. I do not understand what could be so urgent.” Gaius’ tone became a lot more serious “Unless there has been a matter concerning Exodus as of late?”

Naturally, the mention of ‘Exodus’ had Jude instantly on alert.  “Exodus…” He briefly wondered why Gaius would think so but quickly shook his head again. “No… no, I. I just wanted to see you.”

He blushed then, instantly realizing how that must have come out. “I-“ He tried to sound more resolute.  “I said some things I didn’t think through last time we spoke.”

“I remember nothing requiring apologies, Jude.”

Jude shook his head. “I didn’t think so too, at first. But I know now- I’ve thought about it a lot.”

Gaius removed his shades and gave Jude a serious look. One that almost made Jude shrink back, but he stood his ground. When he’d realized it, he’d been embarrassed for himself and he decided he would – somehow – clear things with Gaius. He felt that he had to, or else…

He had a feeling he knew what Gaius’ voice was trying to say back then. 

“I put you on a pedestal. Without realizing, I was, probably, creating a perfect image of you and treating you very differently.” Jude took a deep breath. “Gaius, you’re a King, but that doesn’t mean you’re different—or should be different. What I’m trying to say is that…  that was wrong of me. You’re amazing because you worked hard for it not because you’re on a different level above everyone else. You aren’t different. I’m sorry I made it sound like that.”

“A King is above all. It is his duty to be separate and to rule above his people without bias. Your words then do not warrant any form of apology. I hardly thought of it.”

“I thought of it,” Jude said softly.

“It is a trifle. Worry not.”

Jude shook his head. “No. It _is_ important. I want—“ He took a deep breath and fixed his eyes on Gaius. “To be friends – _good friends_ –  with you, Gaius. I don’t think I can do that if I don’t, at least, see you as you are and not some kind of idol.”

A look of surprise flitted across Gaius’ face but he was quick to mask it with his usual poker face. Meanwhile, Jude let out a sigh of relief.  He’d been thinking of saying that for days. He _wanted_ to be good friends with Gaius; that was fact.

“I’m sorry if that sounds presumptuous,” Jude added, bowing his head a bit. He remembered that even if he realized he couldn’t exactly treat Gaius as a god among mortals (he was close to it, admittedly, in everything but his prowess with technology), he was still King of Rieze Maxia.   

Gaius was silent and Jude kept his eyes on the ground as he waited.

“Kings do not… have friends,” Gaius said quietly after a while and Jude looked up, surprised by it.

“So, we aren’t- _weren’t_ friends?” Jude furrowed his eyebrows and searched Gaius’ face for an answer. Somehow, it didn’t seem like that was a literal statement. Was it? 

Gaius, arms crossed, tapped a finger on his arm. “I would not say that. We are friends. I, as Erston, can consider you as my friend.”

Jude blinked. _Oh._  “So Gaius isn’t Erston… is that it?”

“No,” Gaius said simply.

Jude pondered Gaius’ answer. _Figuratively_ , Gaius and Erston weren’t the same person; that was correct. In the first place, Gaius had thrown away his old identity to protect his family. He’d drawn a line there for that reason. There were also obvious differences between what a King and a commoner  could and could not do. It still didn’t really make sense to Jude why Gaius couldn’t have friends; plenty of world leaders in the past did. There wasn’t a rule against it, was there? 

“Can’t I be Gaius’ friend too?” Jude suggested, finally.  “I want to be friends with both. Friends with the King… _and_ the prodigious playboy aristocrat. There’s no reason a king can’t have friends.”

Gaius narrowed his eyes. His chest heaved and then he sighed in what sounded like resignation.  “You’ve swayed my opinion once before. I see no way I can convince you otherwise.”

Jude couldn’t help but smile. It was rather flattering to know Gaius acknowledged his stubbornness. He really was already forming a little speech in the event Gaius put up a verbal fight.

 He walked closer, close enough that he has to tilt his head a bit to meet Gaius’ eyes.

“I know I don’t plan on backing down… but I do want to ask you this time. Friendships are a two-way street, Gaius.”

The King’s eyes were steely as they fixed on him, and his voice had finality to it when he spoke again. “I will always put my country over your wellbeing, Jude. Or any of my friends. This is why I cannot be friends with anyone as Gaius. It is a harsh truth but one that must be addressed.”

Jude shook his head and smiled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. If it was between the world and myself or any of my friends. I don’t think I could possibly choose them. That would mean sacrificing everything Milla had worked hard to achieve. I wouldn’t hold it against you if chose Rieze Maxia over me, Gaius.”

Slowly, Gaius’ lips curved into a small smile and Jude thought instantly how he liked how it brightened up his face. Jude sighed. Not just because he was seeing Gaius smile again, finally, but because he felt like a load had been lifted off his chest.

“I’m glad—“ Jude’s speech was caught up with a loud yawn. He felt lightheaded suddenly. Alongside the immense relief, Jude realized his twenty-eight-hour run without real sleep, on top of his busy schedule these past few weeks, was finally catching up on him.

He didn’t realize he’d almost collapsed until he felt Gaius’ firm hand holding him steady by his arm.

“Jude,” Gaius’ voice positively dripped with concern.

Jude shook his head and tried to steady himself on his feet. “I’m okay. I just… need to sleep.” He yawned again.

“How long have you been awake?”

“Give or take…. Twenty…. Eight hours? I napped a little here and there… fifteen minutes at a time.”

He heard Gaius make a displeased sound but Jude couldn’t find the power to lift his head up or keep his eyes open. He felt his cheeks press against the crisp, ironed-out coat Gaius wore.

Before completely drifting off to sleep, Jude thought he heard Gaius say:

 “It seems my first task as your friend will be to take care of you.”

 

* * *

 

Gaius sat— one leg crossed over the other— watching over Jude’s sleeping form in his bed. Once again, Jude surprised him with his stubborn streak. He’d always respected Jude, seen the potential he had even way back then when they were on opposing sides. He’d invited Jude to join him back then,  even claimed that the young man would serve him one day as if it were inevitable. In the end, though, with the need for spyrite technology to become reality for the continued survival of both Rieze Maxia and Elympios, Gaius conceded that Jude’s talents were better used elsewhere and no longer brought it up. He couldn’t have foreseen Jude coming to him like this, as a friend. Easily breaking through the barriers he’d put up. To think that it could be solved so easily.

Everyone else would be second to the world and its peoples and he’d always understood that this fact will always set him apart.

That was how it had been with Kyle and Tanner back then. As King of Rieze Maxia, he had all the power to look further into the incident, especially if Kyle had only killed in self-defense. But faced with the grieving family of the slain Rieze Maxian soldier and knowing how saving Kyle would do no favors for his country and people… The choice was simple to make.

And with Ludger, sometimes, he wondered if they— _he—_ could have searched for a way to save both Elle and Ludger. A path that wasn’t easy, or guaranteed, but one that saved both.

The irony was that Ludger himself had been posed with a problem that meant choosing the world and Elle. He chose neither, instead giving himself up for a third option. Gaius would have chosen the world without blinking.This inevitable failure to save the people he held dear when they were weighed against the world made Gaius reluctant to hold them close.

But he’d forgotten that there would be people who understood that, who may share the same sentiment, or outright seek a third option. Like Jude and Ludger. He had simply willed himself to be blind to it. It had been easier to stand apart, to choose to be singular. There were less distractions, less decisions to make. He’d cut himself off from his family, discarded his name, thinking that it was the best way to protect them, but perhaps he had done so to protect himself too.

“Thank you, Jude,” Gaius whispered. Today, he had been on business as Erston. There were rumors of Exodus moving but no one source could agree exactly on _what_ their goal was and Gaius decided it would be expedient of him to visit his many Elympion sources. A few rounds of drinks on his tab often loosed their lips enough to spill anything from stories of wayward wives to distant friends who dabbled in the unsavoury and, sometimes, straight out whispers of Exodus they’d gathered from somewhere. 

But next time, he supposed he would come as Gaius. He didn’t need any other reason other than the desire to meet with a friend.

 

* * *

 

Jude woke up to the feeling of sunlight warming his cheeks. He stirred and yawned before finally cracking his eyes open. He wasn’t sure how, but by the familiar softness of his bed underneath him, he’d found his way back to his apartment (and his bed). When he finally sat up, he realized just exactly _how_ he’d managed to make it back.

_Gaius?_

The man in question was on a chair beside his bed, clearly fast asleep but somehow still sitting up straight. He was without the trench coat that had become his signature style as Erston Outway and was down to a snug white dress shirt. His arms were crossed across his chest – a gesture he often did while awake – and Jude couldn’t help but note how much younger he looked without his usual intensity and intimidating poker face.

Like this, with Jude able to stare at Gaius freely, he couldn’t help but think to himself that Gaius looked quite handsome.

He immediately regretted that thought when he felt his cheeks flush. _I probably shouldn’t be thinking that._

“Hm.”

Jude jumped at the sound and when he turned to Gaius, sure enough, the King was already awake and watching him closely. With Gaius looking so intently at him – nothing new, Jude had to admit, since Gaius had the tendency to always stare so intensely– Jude couldn’t help but wonder if the man hadn’t just read his thoughts earlier.

 “Uh. Good morning, Gaius.” Jude rubbed the back of his neck and offered a little sheepish smile.

Gaius nodded. “Likewise, Jude. Though it seems an apology is in order. I did not intend to fall asleep and overstay my welcome.”

Jude shook his head. “Please. No apologies- In fact, I think I should be the one thanking you. Thanks for bringing me home. And if you fell asleep then- I guess we were just both tired.” Jude was fairly sure that sounded misleading and added hastily: “We’ve both been busy with work.”

Gaius smiled and nodded once. “I understand. Thank you for letting me stay, then.”

Jude smiled back and then promptly looked away, blushing slightly. He _still_ wasn’t used to seeing Gaius smile like that.

“A-anyway. You must be hungry. Let me make you some coffee at least.” Jude threw off his blanket and stepped out of bed. It turned out; he’d slept in his work clothes sans the lab coat. Gaius must have slipped him out of it and his shoes before putting him to bed. It was surprisingly thoughtful.

After brewing some coffee, Jude decided breakfast was in order. He found some bacon in the fridge and together with the food he’d purchased last night , he was able to throw together a decent breakfast.

“I hope you don’t mind. I haven’t really had time to do groceries.” Jude said as he passed Gaius a plate of food.

“It looks appetizing.”

“You don’t really need to flatter me.”

“It’s only the truth.”

“I think I’m beginning to see why you refer to yourself as a playboy aristocrat,” Jude muttered while Gaius merely smiled a little.

They made small talk afterwards and, as he had become accustomed to doing, Jude inquired about Rieze Maxian news. Gaius, for his part, inquired about Jude’s spyrite research and whatever else Jude had picked up on, living exclusively in Elympios. They hadn’t seen personally in a while, with their busy schedules and all, and standing here having breakfast with the man, Jude remembered how much he enjoyed chatting with Gaius. Gaius was always honest and if there was something he could not speak of thanks to his occupation as King of Rieze Maxia, he told you straight out. And Jude appreciated that because that meant he could be honest and straightforward, too. Not that he had as much to keep under wraps as Gaius.

“Why were you at Trigleph this time, Gaius?” Jude asked at some point during their conversation. “Especially if things have been so busy back home in Rieze Maxia.”

Gaius set his mug down and hummed. “I simply had to. There have been rumors of Exodus activity, particularly in Elympios.”

“But don’t you have people to check things out for you?”

“That I do. But I was not satisfied,” Gaius crossed his arms then and exhaled slowly. “None of my informants can seem to agree on what exactly they intend to meddle with this time. They can only agree that something big is being planned.”

Jude couldn’t help but smile at that. “I think, if you were any other person, the last place you’d be at would be Elympios after getting the info you did.”

“I suppose so.” Another small smile. Jude couldn’t help but notice. He looked down at his coffee and wondered if he should be seeing so many of Gaius’ little smiles at once.

“Did you find anything?”

“Not enough. I will see tonight if I can glean more information.” Gaius paused.

Jude looked up, curious, and was met by Gaius looking at him seriously.

“Be vigilant, Jude. Some of the rumors mention spyrite research being their target. At the moment, you are the most familiar name tied to spyrite research. I cannot have you fall.”

Jude felt his heart thump a little, especially when Gaius’ expression grew more intense. _Especially_ with that intensity directed at him. It took a lot of effort not to squirm anxiously under that gaze. He sucked in a gasp of air and nodded once.

“I will. I’ve been keeping up with my martial arts, somewhat. Not as much as I’d like to, maybe… but enough. I promise we’ll be careful.”

“Good. The future of Rieze Maxia and Elympios both lies in your research. Do not disappoint me.”

In the end, it was for Rieze Maxia and Elympios. Somehow, Jude felt a tiny sliver of disappointment, though it was followed shortly by relief..

“I know.”

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

 

Exodus did not attack.

In fact, in the months that followed, the organization became eerily silent. The rumors never disappeared, but not one gained more credibility over the others. Gaius’ government (and Elympios’ for the matter) was essentially forced into a waiting game.

There was no way they could let the threat of Exodus impede their daily life, however. And so, life continued.

 

* * *

 

Gaius was smiling even before he saw him. The sound of Jude’s laughter was clear and unmistakeable, easy to pick out even in a crowd, even a crowd made up of Jude’s friends and coworkers. Gaius had become quite familiar with Jude’s laugh  these past few months and he had Rowen to thank for that little fact. 

It all began with Rowen decided Gaius should learn to use the GHS more reliably and what better way to start than to have him _personally_ call Jude more? One way or another, with Rowen squeezing every ounce of his persuasion into his argument, he made the case for calling Jude extremely logical. Hadn’t Gaius tasked him to follow up on Jude’s progress from time to time? Why, Gaius could be killing two birds by doing the calls himself? Benefitting from it by increasing his active experience with the GHS _and_ making sure their dear little Jude took care of his health. 

In the end, Gaius agreed. Although, grudgingly, at first. 

It wasn’t easy. And the first time he did succeed pushing a call through to Jude, Jude had laughed before he could explain _why_ he was calling exactly. Jude didn’t quite believe it was him calling _and_ that it wasn’t an accidental call at all. 

_“But how did you…? …This really isn’t an accident, right? For real?”_

_“No. Not at all. Rowen is currently preoccupied—“_ Smirking and satisfied with himself as he pretended to look over documents in the other end of the room. _“—I meant to see you weren’t attempting to work without sleep again.”_  

_“Hmm. Well, I’m not. I think Balan wants us out for a drink tonight, so we’ll be getting some rest at least.”_  

_“Good.”_

_“And how about you? I don’t think you should be telling me to rest up without resting up yourself. That’s a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?”_

_“I –“_  

_“No buts. You’re just as essential to the future as I am.”_

_“Hm.”_

Jude laughed a little. _“Anyway, you should call more. Let me know when you’re coming. I think Leia wants to meet up with you again but since she’s a lot busier now she’d really like the heads up.”_  

From then on, the calls got easier (as long as it went through), and after the usual check-up and inquiry on spyrite research progress, sometimes their conversation segued to day-to-day matters and invitations to night outs with Jude and friends (some of which, Gaius and Rowen partook in). 

Tonight, they were here to celebrate Jude’s birthday. 

“Gaius! Rowen! You made it,” Jude exclaimed happily as he came up to them.  “Welcome, I guess. Though I didn’t really know they were going to throw this party until tonight as well….” 

“Oh, so Leia’s little plan did go through smoothly,” Rowen noted as he rubbed his beard. “I suppose my advice was heeded after all.” 

“ _Ha. Ha_. I should’ve known you’d be in on it too, Rowen.” He turned to Gaius. “How about you, Gaius?” 

Gaius made a little non-committal sound. “I was not,” he admitted. “Though I was informed of your birthdate beforehand and so I was able to prepare accordingly.” 

Rowen chuckled. “Gaius may not look like it, but he is quite fond of giving gifts. Did you know he sends Elize and Elle gifts from time to time?” 

Gaius discreetly shot Rowen a glare before clearing his throat and holding out a small rectangular gift box. “I hope this will be useful for you.” 

For a while, Jude was blinking up at the Gaius and the box he held out before, finally, smiling and taking it into his hands. “You know you didn’t have to. I’m happy enough that everyone’s here to celebrate with me.” 

“Consider it my help then.” 

“…Help?” 

“Why don’t you open it and see what’s inside?”  Rowen sounded amused. “I’m sure you’ll understand then.” 

“….Okay.” So Jude did so, undoing the purple ribbon that held the box together and then pulling off its cover.  Inside the box were an expensive looking tie – possibly made of silk – and a piece of plastic bearing the name of a certain boutique in the upper class district of Trigleph. 

“There’s no way I can take this! This is…” 

“A voucher for one of Trigleph’s best custom suit tailor. Incidentally, the very same tailor a certain Erston Outway had his clothes made,” Rowen explained though it didn’t help Jude look any less mortified.

“It will be necessary to own at least one fine suit to wear to important functions,” Gaius calmly added. “In any case, this voucher was a gift after I foiled a blackmail plot against the shop’s owner. Please accept it, Jude.”

Jude stared down at the gift silently. He took a deep breath and when he looked up finally and met Gaius’ gaze again, it was with a determined smile. “Alright. I’ll make good use of this.”

Gaius nodded in approval, answering Jude’s smile with a small one of his own.

“It would seem that your _agonizing_ over what to give young Jude for his birthday has paid off,” Rowen interjected suddenly, handily reminding him that the old man was still beside him. For a moment, a very short moment, Gaius had forgotten Rowen’s presence beside him.

“H-huh?” Jude looked and sounded surprised, as well.

“If you must know, Gaius was _very_ determined to find you the perfect gift. I don’t think I remember seeing Gaius so _troubled_ by something. Well, except the prospect of losing over poker… ”

“ _Rowen,”_ Gaius grumbled and crossed his arms across his chess pensively. “One must strive to do one’s best at everything they intend to do. I merely meant to apply that in the task of finding Jude an _appropriate_ gift.”

“The _perfect_ gift,” Rowen amended.

Gaius didn’t even bother to subtly glare at Rowen anymore and the old man was not the least bit affected by this development. He laughed.

“Come now, Gaius, you know there is no shame at all admitting to _thoughtfulness_ ,” the prime minister turned to Jude, “and certainly, a King’s thoughtfulness is nothing but a great boon. Is that not right, Jude?”

Gaius turned to Jude whose eyes widened just as their eyes met. “Well… I _am_ thankful you brought me something at all,” he said, looking downwards.

Gaius wasn’t sure whether to be offended or unsurprised by the non-committal response. Jude must have noticed because he added shortly, “What I mean is: I’d have been happy with anything from you. It’s the thought that counts, after all.”

“I think, that’s what I call digging yourself deeper into a hole.”

Gaius suppressed a frown when Alvin appeared from seemingly nowhere and hooked his arms around Jude’s shoulders, pulling the young man close to him. “At times like this, you should probably just get to the point and tell him that you liked his gift.”

“Not the delivery I would have used, but I agree with Alvin on this,” Rowen added. “I’m sure _Gaius_ would appreciate such.”

“I need no such thing,” Gaius said firmly.

“Unless he didn’t really like the gift, that is,” Alvin muttered out loud. Gaius shot him a sharp look.

“Why do I have the distinct feeling that I’m being ganged up on?” Jude groaned before prying Alvin off him and gently pushing him off.

“Because … you probably are?”

“Well, _thanks_. As if I needed to be pressured into liking someone’s gift--” Jude froze suddenly, eyes turning to Gaius guiltily.

“A gift is freely given, it is of no conc-“ Gaius began, only to be cut off by Jude.

“You know I like it…. A lot,” Jude told him plainly. “Like you said, it’s something that will be useful for me in the future.  And the fact that you thought about it a lot…  I’m flattered. Really. And I said I’d be happy with anything from you—or anyone…. – but that doesn’t mean I like this just because of that.  There’s a saying in Elympios that if you dress shabbily, they’ll notice your clothes, but if you dress well they’ll notice you, right?” Jude was smiling again. “Thank you, Gaius.”

“And this reminds me of that Elympion saying that says that when a man gives a woman clothes, he means to take it off of them,” Alvin said nonchalantly.

Gaius watched Jude’s cheeks turn bright red but instead of sputtering, he seemed to take that information in stride. He didn’t know if he should be impressed with Jude’s experience in handling Alvin or not. “I’ve heard of that too… but I guess it’s a good thing I’m not a woman?” Jude finished with a little laugh. “Anyway, Elle and Elize baked a cake for us. They were just waiting for you to arrive before they slice it open.”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Tell me we’re having you blow candles too—“ Alvin threw his arm around Jude’s shoulder again and Gaius watched as together, and with Jude not bothering to pry Alvin off, they made their way towards their table.

Gaius didn’t follow, and neither did Rowen.

“What are you planning, old man?” He asked plainly.

“Oho. I have no idea what you’re talking about, Gaius. I was merely telling Jude the lengths you took to find him the best gift.”

“An unnecessary piece of information.”

He heard Rowen chuckle and, turning to the old man, he saw him playing with his beard a little. “Of that, I am not so sure.”

Gaius narrowed his eyes.

“Come now, please don’t look so suspicious. I promise not to harbour any ill intent towards… Jude and you. I am merely…. Helping a friendship along. Yes, that’s simply is all it is.” The old man made a little bow then. “Now, if you will, we have a cake to attend to and a birthday boy to sing to. Let us go, Gaius.”

As he watched Rowen’s retreating back, Gaius couldn’t help but feel deeply unsatisfied. He had a distinct feeling that Rowen was up to something and his meddling – for that was what this clearly was – would not be ending anytime soon. 

 

* * *

 

At some point during the party, Gaius and Jude ended up at the bar with Jude nursing a bubblegum-colored cocktail complete with an umbrella topper. Gaius, with imported Kanbalan liquor in hand, gave Jude’s drink a curious look.

“What? Not you too,” Jude muttered, eyelids fluttering as he frowned at Gaius. “Alvin said I should drink something to celebrate finally being legal to drink in Elympios, so I picked something that sounded nice. It’s not my fault it’s _pink_.”

Gaius took a sip from his glass and set it down. “I judge nothing.”

“Good. Because I’m not defending my perfectly good choice of drink anymore tonight.” Jude took a gulp of his drink and then rested his head on his hands. When Gaius turned to look at Jude, he noticed the slight redness of Jude’s cheeks. The natural effects of alcohol. But so far, Jude didn’t look to be too affected. “I’ve been thinking about how different Elympion laws are. At thirteen, Rieze Maxian children can be held accountable for themselves… join the army, or med school like I did. Here, they’ve decided you can only be a full-fledged adult at eighteen.”

“It is a curious decision, I must admit.” Gaius crossed his arms out of habit.

“Do you think our laws will ever change to match that? It makes sense that we’re so different because of the two-thousand year gap in cultures… but. Now, we’re side by side.”

“Perhaps. In time,” Gaius said simply. In truth, he didn’t see it changing anytime soon if only because he preferred the Rieze Maxian way of allowing children to decide when they could be adults. He, himself, decided he was ready to take on the responsibility of being an adult at twelve. It was a long time ago, for sure. “And you, Jude? What do you think?”

“I… don’t know. But I know I’m _older_.” Jude’s expression grew somber, though only for a moment, because he was turning to smile at Gaius. “I think the drink’s getting to me. I just… I guess I can’t believe it’s been two years.”

“It’s Milla Maxwell, is it not?” Gaius probed.

Jude nodded and slumped down on the bar, pushing his drink away a bit. “I miss her, Gaius. I think… sometimes, I wish she could be here so she could tell me what I’m doing right…. Or wrong.”

“I hardly think you need her for that.”   

Jude laughed, “Yeah, I think so too.” He looked down, smiling at himself. “Besides, that’s why I have you…”

Gaius blinked and for a moment, he wasn’t sure what that strange feeling in his chest was. Confusion?

“I meant-“ Jude sat up, suddenly red. “I have _you guys_. I can’t have Milla using up mana just so she can tell me I’m being… immature. ”

“I see…” But Gaius could not help but sound just a tiny bit hesitant. Jude didn’t seem to notice, however, and just continued to take controlled sips of his cocktail.  

Sometime later, Alvin made his way towards the bar and slipped his arms around Jude to drag him somewhere else. From the cheers that followed shortly after, it was a game of poker he’d been dragged into. Until that point, however, Gaius was guilty of sneaking Jude curious glances in an attempt to make sense of that strange little feeling.

(For the rest of the evening, whenever Gaius heard Jude’s laugh, he couldn’t help but suppress the urge to curve his lips into a smile.) 

 

* * *

 

Gaius didn’t see Jude again until months later, at a Spirius Corporation function for which Erston and Jude both were invited.  Technically, Gaius was also invited, though he had officially declined and sent Rowen instead. Spirius officials – of which Vera was one – were well aware of his identity by now and saw no problem with letting him attend as Erston instead.

“Balan insisted we had to attend,” Jude explained when prompted. “It’s for the sake of our future business with Spirius Corp, he says.”  He shrugged and offered up a little smile. “At least I have a reason to finally use the suit I had made thanks to you. “

The suit Jude had was a simple three-piece set; the coat he wore was dark grey, while his pants were black. Underneath his coat, he wore a light-grey waistcoat that stood out against his black shirt and red-orange necktie.  It was a lot darker than the colors Gaius was used to seeing Jude in (especially with his perennial white labcoat of late), but he appreciated the way the dark colors seemed to hug Jude’s slender frame better. It looked tight, but Jude didn’t look the least bit uncomfortable. He mentally commended the boutique for creating a flattering suit for Jude.  (Though, he noted, Jude’s combed back hairstyle added to his suit overall.)

“How does it look?” Gaius caught Jude saying just in time.

“It suits you quite well,” he answered, then paused. “You look handsome, Jude.”

Jude’s eyes widened and then he was frowning and looking away, slightly red in the face. “I- huh. Thanks. You know, Gaius, I think you should be glad Rowen isn’t around to tease you for that…”

 “He is here, actually. Spirius Corporation extended an invitation to the King of Rieze Maxia. I sent Rowen, instead.”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised…”

“In any case, he’ll be busy for a while yet. And then some.”  Rowen might tease him all he liked, but he knew full well his prime minister’s affections for a certain Elympion diplomat.

Jude burst into light laughter. “I- I’m not telling Rowen that.”

The actual function was for the inauguration of the new Spirius Corp president. It was the second one since Ludger, with Spirius’ management being forced to reshuffle more than once in the changing attitudes towards spyrix and other related technology. Jude and Balan were invited because Spirius hoped to, one day, use spyrite technology in its future offerings. Public awareness of the long-term harm posed by spyrix was growing. Along with Jude and the others’ goal of actively phasing out spyrix technology and Spirius’ reliance to it, a switch to spyrite was a logical course of action if Spirius wanted to survive Gaius had been given an invitation by a friend who knew he was interested in Elympion going-ons.

Everything was going smoothly until, while Gaius was chatting with the friend who’d invited him, an explosion rocked the whole venue.

 

* * *

 

The electricity was knocked out after a second explosion and if Spirius’ security was able to control the crowd and the sudden influx of monsters, when the lights flickered out, whatever order they had managed was easily dissolved. The ceilings above them rumbled with aftershock and Gaius briefly wondered if it was an explosive that set off the initial explosions or something else entirely. As soon as he was certain the unarmed attendees were properly accounted for by Spirius employees, Gaius set off to find Rowen.

He found the Prime Minister near the epicentre of the first explosion just as the emergency lights came on. Beside the old man was Chancellor Marcia, with blood matted in her hair though it looked like Rowen was able to use healing artes on it.

“I’m afraid the new CEO has perished-“ Rowen tilted his head and gestured the giant boulder that had fallen over the event stage. Even under the dim light, Gaius was able to make out the splatters of blood on the ground underneath it. “But as you can well see, I’ve secured Chancellor Marcia.”

Gaius nodded in approval. “Well done. The eastern exits are still secure. Spirius has seen to that. Take the Chancellor there and help them secure their ranks.”

“Understood.“ Rowen turned to the Chancellor and quietly explained the situation to her. Moments later, she was nodding in agreement. “And what of you?”

“I intend to deal with these interlopers myself.” At that, Gaius drew his sword from its sheath. He was one of the few who had been allowed by Spirius’ security to enter the venue armed. In part, that was thanks to Vera vouching for his trustworthiness. There were others allowed the luxury, including – he hoped – Jude and Rowen. If Leia were present, she would have been included in that short list.

 “What do you make of it, Rowen?” Gaius asked before Rowen left, certain the Prime Minister would have had a good idea by now.

“The explosions were triggered by spyrix. An earth-based one that mimics earthquakes. I suspect this is the big plan Exodus had in store for us a while back.”

“But why wait this long?” the Chancellor asked softly.

“That I cannot know, but I suspect it was not only to ensure Spirius’ continued instability with the death of its newly appointed CEO.”

“Rowen! G- _Erston!”_ Someone called out to them and turning to the sound, they saw Balan running up to them. “Oh, am I lucky my leg didn’t give out.” He gave his left leg a slap before turning to Gaius and Rowen both with urgency. “Has anyone seen Jude?”

Gaius frowned almost immediately, tightening his grip on the hilt of sword. Balan had been with Jude when Gaius left him. “He was with you, was he not?” he asked slowly.

“Yes, of course.” Balan didn’t flinch under Gaius gaze but he did look completely unbothered either. “But Jude went to help a girl and his mother earlier. The girl claimed her mother fainted suddenly and needed medical assistance.”

Rowen sighed. “Oh dear. I can see why Jude would come with them without question.”

Gaius said nothing. He didn’t need any further explanation to know that must have been a trap.

“Jude doesn’t have his gauntlets on him but he has allium orbs on him. He always does,” Balan explained hastily. “Is he- ?”

“He is strong. He will not fall so easily,” Gaius firmly declared and beside him, he saw Rowen tilt his head curiously towards him. He ignored it and instead began walking. “Take this man with you, Rowen.”

“Please, find Jude,” Balan requested.

Jude’s death or capture here would bring no benefit to Rieze Maxia or Elympios, that much Gaius knew. The choice was easy to make.

“I planned to.”

 

* * *

 

Following a series of hallways that were suddenly labyrinthine in the darkness, with whole sections simply impassable from collapsed concrete, Gaius eventually found Jude. One of the Exodus agents he’d intercepted along the way possessed a communications device and, through that, he was able to narrow down Jude’s location and eventually come upon an unused event hall.

“Give it up, Dr. Mathis, and come with us.”

Jude was surrounded by about a dozen Exodus agents at the center of the room. His coat was gone and he looked a little rough for wear with his sleeves torn, tattered, and rolled up to his elbows. His fists, Gaius noticed, were wrapped in thick dark cloth, and his previously combed-back hair was back to its usual unruly state. A moment later, Gaius realized with some amusement, that Jude must have repurposed his coat as protection for his fists..

“Sorry, but I can’t do that,” Jude answered as he maintained a steady battle stance.

A quick cursory glance of the room also brought the presence of several passed out Exodus agents on the floor to Gaius. He was correct to assume Jude would not fall so easily.

In an instant, one of the agents was launching himself towards Jude, massive gauntlets (spyrix, they had to be) looking to crush him.

“Don’t kill him! We need him alive!” One of the agents could be heard crying out even as Jude ruthlessly jammed his elbow in the space between his attacker’s head and chest, rendering him unconscious in the next moment.

“And for what purpose is that, exactly?” Gaius chose that moment to make himself known, calmly walking out of the shadows before putting his blade out for all the agents to see as it crackled with a fiery aura. It was a dark promise that none of them would be escaping from him unless they surrendered in peace.

“Gaius?” Jude’s attention was turned to him momentarily and an agent used that as his chance to attack. Jude’s reflexes were keen, however, and he was able to duck backwards, albeit almost falling over the in the process. 

“Eyes on the enemies, Jude,” Gaius said simply as he marched forward. Despite his words, he quickly glanced over to Jude who let out a little gasping laugh. It was pleasing to see Jude’s good nature shine still in such a situation.

“Right.” 

“I will accept your surrender, should you choose that path,” Gaius addressed the agents. “Choose if you wish to place your fate upon me or at the mercy of your government.”

“Nobody’s surrendering, Rieze Maxian! We’ll fight to the death if we have to.”

“Then fight. Show us your might.”

In the next moment, the Exodus agents descended all at once on Jude and Gaius. With little talk passing between them, Gaius was able to guide Jude into a position where they had their backs against each other. He didn’t need such protection, but he was mindful of Jude who was working at a disadvantage from the get-go. From quick stolen glances, he could see Jude breathing harsher and the cloth wrapped around his fists growing more and more tattered, growing damp from what he suspected were Jude’s knuckles bruising and tearing from the repeated stress on them.

Despite the situation, Gaius couldn’t contain the exhilarating feeling that stemmed from what appeared to be a lop-sided fight. This was the kind of exhilaration revellers of the arena back at Xian Du craved for, the illusion of danger.

There was no real danger, not while he was standing.

The warmth of Jude’s back was pressed against his at some point.

“Sorry about the suit. I had to uh- improvise,” Jude said.

“I see you’ve used it well. It is of no consequence.”

“I still feel kind of bad about it.” Jude moved away to punch an agent squarely in the face, forcing their metal mask to cave in even as they stumbled backwards.

Gaius, on the other hand, deftly sliced through another agent’s spyrix weapons before deftly incapacitating them in a few well-timed swipes of his sword.

Finally, they were down to just one agent and from the looks of it, he was this squad’s leader.

“This is the end.” Jude stated simply as he calmly walked towards the man. Gaius stood silently a short distance behind him, sword still drawn and ready to protect Jude. “Just what is it that you want? What we’re doing isn’t just for Rieze Maxia but for Elympios, as well.”

The Exodus agent shook his head. “It’s none of your business!”

“It was my business ever since you decided to try and kidnap me,” Jude countered back in an even voice.

“You scum deserve to be back in the schism! You should be giving us your mana, not… not forcing us to bend to your wills!”

Jude gave Gaius a look before turning back to the man. “I know giving up spyrix sounds impossible right now… but we never planned to forcefully remove it from everyday use, at least, not until spyrite technology is completely viable—“

“You don’t understand! You’ll never understand!” he seemed to grow erratic, shaking as he yelled.

“Please-“ Jude took a step closer to try and placate him.

There was a click, a loud click that seemed to fill the room followed by what Gaius recognized to be hurried ticking. “Jude!” Gaius called out and remembered seeing Jude turn his head – recognition flashing in those eyes – and try to run before an explosion rocked the room with the lone Exodus agent at its epicentre.

For one quick moment, something seized Gaius; his chest tightened, he _froze_. It was an alien sensation that he overcame as quickly as it had come as he shielded himself from the blast. But when the dust cleared, he unconsciously held his breath and recognized…. Uncertainty.

He set out to find Jude, whom he found curled up on the floor later on, possibly bodily thrown off by the blast.

Gaius knelt beside him and, carefully, placed a hand on his neck to check for pulse. He exhaled slowly, and relaxed, when he recognized the gentle thrumming of Jude’s pulse against his touch.

Aside from the freshly bleeding wound on Jude’s forehead, it looked like he was mostly unscathed from the explosion. This was good.

Eventually, Jude stirred against his touch. “Ugh, my ear’s ringing,” he groaned before bracing himself to sit up.

“Gaius, are you alright?” he asked later, looking up at Gaius who was clearly in a better position than he was.

He smiled. “I doubt that’s a question you should be asking me.”

“I think I’d be in big trouble if it turned out the King of-“ Jude caught himself. “If you were hurt helping me.”

“If I was hurt, then that is my responsibility.” Gaius smiled. “Can you walk, Jude? Or should I help you up?”

Jude took a moment to just stare at Gaius, before smiling himself and shaking his head. “No, I think I’m fine.”

To demonstrate, he stood up from the ground, only wincing slightly though it didn’t look like it was from any injury. Jude sighed as he looked around him, the bodies of the Exodus agents strewn on the ground; some of them had been caught up in their leader’s explosion.

“I know how Elympios means to deal with them, but still… it’s… a pity,” Jude muttered before turning to Gaius again. “Can we get help for the survivors? How is everyone?”

Gaius couldn’t help but marvel at Jude’s compassion for the people who held so little for him and his fellow Rieze Maxians. He caught himself before he could smile at that. Instead, he focused on explaining the situation as he knew it.

He glanced at his watch. “It’s been a little less than an hour since I last met with Rowen. Reinforcements should arrive soon.”

“Got it.” 

Jude silently fell in line beside Gaius and together they made their way back to Rowen and the others by following the path Gaius had taken. There were still monsters roaming the darkened hallways, left behind by their Exodus masters, but between the two of them, they were no threat. In fact, fighting back-to-back with Jude, confident in the other’s ability to watch his back while he did the same, Gaius felt unmistakeably content.

In the heat of battle, he remembered how years ago he’d invited Jude to join his side, to join Chimeriad and to serve him. Chimeriad was no more, but he wondered what kind of answer he would receive should he extend that offer for Jude to serve him again.

The prospect excited him; the promise of fighting with comrades again (not just Rowen), or simply _with Jude_ whose prowess with his fists was as admirable as it had been…

Gaius blinked, steady gait coming into an abrupt halt. Beside him, Jude stopped as well and looked up at him with concern.

“Gaius? Is something wrong?”

Gaius shook his head. “No. Nothing. Let us keep going.” He resumed walking.

Jude made a curious little sound and Gaius caught sight of him gently tapping his temple as he followed Gaius lead.

“Gaius…” The boy began after a while, when Gaius least expected it. “This is probably strange to ask but… why did you come for me?”

He didn’t realize it until he was facing Jude, barely making out his face in the dim light the emergency lights provided, but somehow he’d stopped walking and turned. Jude looked just as confused as him and, in silence, they stared at each other.

Gaius exhaled slowly, using the time that took to think before answering carefully: “I was armed. It was my duty.”

“Alone?” Jude’s voice was quiet, as if he was, himself, coming to a realization of sorts.

“…Yes,” Gaius answered, after a moment’s pause. “Is something the matter, Jude?”

Jude shook his head. Gaius immediately noticed Jude’s cheeks turning slightly red, but the red hue from the emergency lights made him second-guess and then Jude was turning away. “No. Nothing’s wrong…. I think. Forget I asked. I should probably get checked if I’m concussed or something later.” Jude’s voice turned quiet. “I’m coming to some strange conclusions.”

 Gaius felt that, by now, familiar tightness in his chest. He shrugged it off, or tried to. It was marginally successful thanks to distraction that was them reaching their destination. Spirius officers greeted them while Jude was immediately approached by medics who looked him over.

Gaius did too; study him that was. The main venue area’s electricity had been restored and under the clear white lights, he clearly saw how worn Jude looked. The wound on Jude’s head was caked in dust and drying blood, making it look worse than it probably was. Jude was a healer, he told himself, and if Jude didn’t think it was worth healing at that instant, then Gaius trusted him. Still, even with that knowledge, Gaius couldn’t help feel uneasy looking at it. He was concerned but he also trusted Jude’s judgement.   He turned away, intent on focusing on assessing the aftermath of the attack instead.

His mind kept on wandering back to Jude, however, and how he should have done a better job of keeping him out of harm’s way.

At some point, Gaius looked again for Jude who had since wandered away to help the injured with his healing artes. As if sensing Gaius’ gaze on him, the young man turned to him and smiled.

Gaius sighed, suddenly relieved before he even realized he had been worried about something. He stopped then, pieces slowly clicking into place in his mind.

Just what was that? And why had he felt so relieved to see Jude when he’d seen and known he was fine just moments ago?

Was he… infatuated?

It was one question Gaius wasn’t sure he wanted answers to.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

 

Jude wasn’t sure what to think.

Warm tea in hand, Jude stared at nothing in particular outside in window as he replayed the events earlier that day in his mind. It wasn’t just Exodus’ – and they confirmed that it _was_ Exodus based on the equipment they left behind – that was on his mind now, but Gaius. He’d expected Exodus to come after him and his research at some point, it was just one of the inevitable outcomes he’d entertained even before he dived deep into spyrite research. They would always, probably, resent him for his part in undoing the schism in the first place. Gaius’ matter was different and it had him trying to recall as many moments as he could from even before the attack. The instances of Gaius’ smile, what they correlated to, and just how much did Gaius’ normal character deviate from its normal pattern _and_ for how long had it been going on?

It was probably silly of him to try and dissect the matter like this but, truthfully and considering _who_ it concerned, it almost seemed like the only course of action available to him right now.

He took a deep breath and sighed as he resigned to the fact that he wasn’t sure he knew Gaius well enough to make a sound judgement. He had made the effort to get to know Gaius better, like he said he would, and he was confident enough to say they were better friends now than before. But he wasn’t sure if that was enough. How long was he supposed to know Gaius to be able to understand him ‘well enough’?

Jude was forced to put a momentary break to his thoughts when the doorbell rang. He set his mug aside and padded towards the door.

Unfortunately for him, his visitor took his relaxed pace as a sign of worry and began to furiously attack the doorbell button. The continuous ringing had Jude groaning and covering his ears, but he didn’t bother with quickening his pace one bit.

He sure knew who his ‘visitor’ had to be now and he figured _she_ could stand to wait a while.

“I’m coming,” he called out shortly before making it to the door and opening it.

“Jude! You’re alive!”

Just as he’d suspected, it was Leia, and the first thing she did right after her dramatic exclamation was to throw her arms around Jude in a hug. She squeezed him tightly and when she spoke again, it was with her voice slightly muffled by Jude’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re alright! … Now I kind of regret not being there with you!”

Jude shook his head and tried not to smile at the comment before gently pulling Leia off of him. “Just kind of?”

“Well… _a lot_ , now that I think about it. I just missed what might be the biggest story of the year, didn’t I?!” Peering up at Jude, she pretended to look disappointed… for all of five seconds and then she was smiling softly at Jude, the face of genuine concern. She took Jude’s hands in hers.  “I’m really glad you’re alright, though. Really, _really_ , Jude.”

Jude returned that smile and pulled Leia into a hug too. “I am too, believe me.”

They ended up sitting around his little dining table, both with mugs filled with warm herbal tea.  Here, Jude made an account of the events during the day while Leia made notes and interrupted his story with questions on whether or not he wanted some information available for public or not. Jude chose to gloss over the events with Gaius for now. 

“So they wanted to abduct you?” Leia clarified at the end of Jude’s talking. On the table, she’d finally closed her notebook, signalling the end of her information gathering. “Did they say why?”

Jude shook his head and swallowed hard when he remembered exactly what had happened when he tried to talk with the Exodus leader. They’d kept the casualties to a minimum during that fight but the Exodus leader himself took out some of his own people thanks to that explosion.  “No. They wouldn’t say anything.” Elympion and Spirius authorities both interrogated the Exodus agents that failed to escape, but all they got for their efforts were verbatim Rieze Maxian hate speech. “It’s possible they didn’t even know exactly why. But they were probably willing to put a stop to spyrite research because they know, at least, that our research will help improve relations between the two countries.”

“That’s terrible. Following something without knowing anything just because you hate something…”

“Mm.  Anyway, they’re doubling the security detail at Helioborg as a result and well… I guess it’s good I didn’t slack on my training too much.”

Leia chortled. “I think you’d have a little more to worry about than Exodus if you did that. Mom’s been talking about visiting Elympios one day too…”

“Yeaaah, I think I’m better off taking my chances with Exodus…”

They laughed together at that, even if the threat of Leia’s mom was a very real one. Eventually they began talking about the story Leia had been working on which had kept her from attending the Spirius event. Her story featured a reclusive, but very prominent for his work in Elympion music and arts, figure of Elympion society, one that _finally_ agreed to be interviewed but only for one day, which turned out to be today.

“ _If I don’t take this chance, I may never get another one! So, uh, sorry to be asking you again… but please let me know if anything juicy happens during the inauguration, okay? Thanks, Jude! You’re the best!”_ Leia had called just before Balan and him were about to leave for the event that morning. And since he was going to be there anyway,  and he _was_ used to Leia requesting this kind of job from him, he let it slide. Now, Jude was honestly somewhat thankful Leia didn’t have to deal with the mayhem he had. That and he wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to deal with having to deal with Leia too after all that….

“Jude… _Jude…_ you’re not listening, are you?”

Jude stopped – thinking and the process of bringing his mug to his lips, though not soon enough because he realized his tea had gone tepid a moment later.  He set his mug down and took a moment to piece together the bits and pieces he _did_ hear. “I was. You were talking about how this person is actually accepting of Rieze Maxia and how publishing this article on him could help Elympions understand us better… right?”

The look on Leia’s face told Jude he’d managed to hit the right points, but she didn’t look particularly impressed or satisfied. She crossed her arms together, but instead of an angry Leia, Jude got a concerned look from his friend instead.

“Something’s bothering you.”

Jude carefully avoided Leia’s probing eyes by looking to his side. “It’s nothing, really.”

“ _Aha_ , definitely something. Come on, spill it!”

Jude sighed. He wanted to shrink away, or avoid the topic entirely, but he doubted that he could get away with that with Leia.

“It’s something you can talk to me about, right? … Right?” Leia squinted and for a moment, she studied Jude’s face, as if the answer were right there. “Or not,” she said finally.

She sat back and settled for making a pouty face in hopes of convincing Jude to tell her.

Jude did eventually relent, though not because of her pouting. If there was anyone he could talk to about this problem, Leia was probably his best bet.  “It’s not really related with today… I mean. Not with Exodus.”

“What is it? Science mumbo jumbo then?” She looked apprehensive.

Jude snorted, not sure if he should get mad at what he was sure Leia’s name for his spyrite research talk. He couldn’t blame her either. At some point, before, he’d roped Leia into becoming a sounding board of ideas. She hadn’t enjoyed it much, though she did say she was glad to help even if her help was basically being a wall that occasionally nodded and hummed sometimes.

“No-“ he couldn’t quite stamp out the slight laugh in his voice. “not really this time.”

“So what is it? You know you can talk to me about everything _but_ that!”

Jude smiled a little. “I’m-“ he rubbed at the back of his neck and looked down. “I’m not sure if I’m just imagining things. It’s just… hard to believe if I’m right.”

“So, do you need me to quote Howe’s egg principle or something?”

“I’ve been repeating that to myself already, thank you.” Jude said plainly.

“Well, good! … So what is it?”

Jude took a deep breath and exhaled just as deeply. “What do you do… when one of your friends… “ He paused. “Basically, you come to realize they… might like you?” He looked up to Leia finally, curious to see her reaction.

For once, Leia didn’t react suddenly. Her eyes widened, slowly, and her mouth opened – as if she wanted to say something but stopped short – and then she was blushing and frowning all at the same time. She then settled for becoming rigid suddenly, “W-what makes you think they like you?!”

It was an exaggerated response, but Jude didn’t think too much of it. He understood the position he was in. This was probably the first time he was asking about… well… _love?_ Or _like_ ; he wasn’t sure if it was that serious yet. He was quite certain he had never really talked with Leia about things like that until now. “That’s what I’m confused about. Isn’t it normal to smile at your friends and to make time for them? And then to put your life in danger for your friends… “

“Y-yeah… definitely!” Leia nodded.

“But… I don’t know,” Jude’s hand came up to his chest idly thumbing at the imprint of Milla’s necklace there. “I just feel like it’s something more. That I’m not really imagining it. It’s… kind of embarrassing.”

“Jude…” Leia said softly. “I… When did you realize it?”

He didn’t answer immediately, but when he did, it was after a single nod for resolve and a soft sigh. “Today.”

“Today….” Leia muttered dazedly. She repeated it again, though in a much, much louder voice. She shot up from her seat too. “ _Today?!”_

Jude smiled at her long overdue outburst. He was kind of expecting that at some point. “Mm. Yeah… Today.”

Leia sank back into her seat and sighed. “I guess I won’t have to apologize or anything…” Jude heard her mutter.

“Apologize?” Jude asked.

“No, nothing! Nothing at all!” She waved her hands rapidly to demonstrate just how big that ‘No’ was. And then, after, she slapped both her cheeks and leaned forward, eager to change the subject. “So who is it? If it’s today then it’s gotta be someone from the inauguration event, right?” Her face grew serious. “… It wasn’t Balan, right?”

Jude almost choked. “ _No_ … no way. I mean, no offense to Balan, of course.”

Leia sighed in relief. “So…?”

He wondered if his answer would be better or worse than Balan in Leia’s eyes. “Gaius,” Jude said finally. “It’s Gaius… I think.”

_“Whaaat?!”_ Leia was off her seat again. “Gaius? As in, Gaius, King of Rieze Maxia Gaius…? … Jude, you _really_ _are_ imagining things.” 

Jude laughed dryly and muttered, “Yeah, I really am…”

Leia sat back down. She licked her lips and looked up. “It’s hard to imagine…”

“I know.” Jude nodded.

“But I guess, he _has_ been different…. But he’s been different ever since he started going around as Erston too… And he was just so much different from everyone else even before that.”

“I don’t know if I should… do something.” _Or if I should leave it alone._

“Well. You can’t really do anything unless he tells you, right? If it were me, I’d need a _whole_ cart full of flowers when he confesses! You know, just to make sure he’s serious with his feelings for me!”

“I’m not sure I’d want something like that…. I don’t think I’d want flowers or _anything else_. I’d be happy if they’d just let me know.”

Leia let out a puff of air, propped her elbows on the table and rested her head on her hands. “That’s so boring, Jude. Not romantic at all and _definitely_ not newsworthy.”

“If you write about this and I end up on the gossip columns, just so you know, I can and will be willing to dish out all the dirt I have on you,” Jude warned. If he was serious or not, he let Leia decide on her own.

“Stingy. You better watch out, Balan’s really rubbing off on you…” She stuck a tongue out at him before dissolving into giggles. “But seriously, even if we can’t really know if the King of Rieze Maxia wants you to be his queen…”

Jude rolled his eyes and let out an audible groan.

“… there _is_ one thing I know I can help you with.”

Leia scooted closer to him and held his hands in hers.

“What do you feel about him, huh? We can answer that… Can’t we?”

Jude took a very deep breath. He could feel his face heat up from the cheeks to the tip of his ears, thinking of that question seriously and the prospect of actually have to say the answer, _out loud_ , to someone other than himself.

The answer to that question… Jude felt like they were tiny pieces of a puzzle that came to him at times, never together or overwhelmingly. They were easy to ignore when they came but he knew that if he recalled all those instances, gathered those tiny pieces of truth, together, then he would see the big picture and it would all be unmistakeable.

“That hard… is it?” Leia observed.

Jude looked to the side and, with a small smile, nodded.  

Leia studied him for a while longer and then gave his hands a squeeze to call his attention back to her. “So, okay, one more question. We’ll have to get back to the other one later, all right?”

“Okay.”

“So,” Leia took a deep breath too. “Milla. What about Milla…? Is she why you can’t answer?”

Jude couldn’t help but laugh a little. His answer came quick. “Maybe?”

Leia narrowed her eyes at him. “Hey, here I am _seriously_ trying to help you understand your feelings—and you’re not taking me seriously!” She pouted and let go of Jude’s hands quickly so she could cross her arms together.

“Sorry, Leia. But it’s true, I’m not sure…”

“Hmph.” Leia maintained her pose.

Jude continued. “I know… A Great Spirit and a human being like me can’t be together. Not really. Milla and I both know that. _Knew_ that. And we… we’ve come to terms with it.”

He saw Leia uncross her arms, she turned towards him, in rapt attention.

“We agreed that if I find someone else… then that’s it. If I don’t, I’m free to continue loving her. As a human can a Great Spirit.” Before Jude realized it, he was staring at his bare hands, still lightly bandaged to help his busted knuckles heal from the beating they injured earlier that day. “I will always love Milla,” Jude declared breathily. “She helped me changed, changed the world around her…  Everything that I am right now is thanks to her. I owe her _a lot_.

He exhaled slowly and balled his hands into fists. “I don’t know,” he repeated.

“Seems to me, you _do_ already know. But just a part of it…” Leia came up to him and made a little gesture with her hand to describe just how little that part was. “… and you’re afraid to admit it.”

Jude looked down again while Leia placed her hand on top of Jude’s.

“So, what do you feel about Gaius? Or maybe… what do you _like_ about him, huh?”

That was, Jude decided, an easier question to answer. Even if he did take his sweet time thinking about it first.

 

* * *

 

 In the aftermath of the incident involving Exodus, Gaius and Rowen – as King and Prime Minister of Rieze Maxia respectively—found themselves involved in a heated discussion with Spirius Corporation officials and Elympion politicians. There was much to be discussed, and questions that begged to be asked, like how Exodus managed to slip past Spirius’ security, and what their motivations were for launching such an attack. Precautions, then, in light of recent events were drawn up, including in particular, the increasing of security around Helioborg which was, arguably, the world’s current hot seat of spyrite technology research.

The deliberations ran until early morning, a few hours after midnight. By then, even Gaius was beginning to feel the effects of fatigue. Instead of retiring to the guest rooms as soon as their meeting was adjourned, however, Gaius chose instead to take up his sword and head straight to the courtyard, where he practiced.

 There was restlessness steeped into his bones, the kind that hours of deliberations couldn’t hope to stamp out. By expending himself in the only way he knew to be effective – performing sword _katas_ he knew by heart – he hoped to dispel it and finally rest.

“A penny for your thoughts, Gaius?”

Gaius paused in mid-slash. He glanced over his shoulder; he already knew who it was, but sure enough, he saw Rowen come up from the hallway behind him. He turned away and resumed with his practice.

“What is it that you want, Rowen?” he asked when, after a few moments, Rowen didn’t state the reason for his presence.

“Perhaps, I merely wish to watch your fine display of swordsmanship,” Rowen suggested.

Gaius sneered, never once breaking the steady rhythm of movement he’d built up.

“Or Perhaps, I merely wish to have a little chat,” Rowen continued. He let a few lingering moments, punctuated by the sounds of Gaius’ sword whistling through the air, pass by before speaking once more. “I could not help but notice your interest in Helioborg’s defensive plans.”

Gaius’ movements continued, if not for the slightest delay, a fraction of a second’s pause, before continuing to swing his sword with ruthless precision again. “It is only natural to take heed of it. Spirius claims to possess Elympios’ strongest defense firm, and yet they have failed in securing the safety of its own leader. One must wonder how much better their Elympion soldiers will fare.”

“In the past, Spirius is said to have had ties with Exodus. In this matter, I am willing to suspect their weakness lay more in the wills and allegiances of its people, rather than their strength. Given time, I’m sure they will find the means to rectify that weakness.” Rowen paused. “But this does not appease you, does it?”

“They refuse to acknowledge their failure and their weaknesses. It was only natural that I show them the error of their ways.”

“Hence the interest in Helioborg’s defences, is it?”

Gaius grunted in non-answer. He sheathed his sword, deciding his practice was well and over, before turning to Rowen and crossing his arms across his chest. He narrowed his eyes and slowly asked:  “I ask again; what is it that you want, Rowen?”

Rowen tilted his head a little, and smiled. “I wonder what you think of Jude, Gaius.”

Gaius narrowed his eyes, instantly wary of Rowen’s true intent for asking. He recognized the danger that lay in answering…. And not answering. He chose the other option.

“His work on spyrite research is invaluable to both Rieze Maxians and Elympions alike. For that reason, it is my desire to see his work come to fruition.” He stated plainly, keenly aware of the expectant look on Rowen’s face. He continued, “As an individual, he is remarkable, someone whose determination and will of heart is unparalleled. He has much to go yet in terms of physical strength, but in time, he will be strong just as well. You, as one of his friends, should already be aware of that.”

“Indeed, I am.’ Rowen gave him a single nod. “Only that, I cannot help but wonder since you hold Jude in such high regard.”

“ _Wonder_ again?” Gaius growled.

Rowen’s eye twinkled, purposely ignoring the dangerous tone Gaius’ question had taken.

"Why, indeed, you have not asked for Jude to serve under you once more…. Amongst other things.”

Gaius breathed deeply, irritated. He narrowed his eyes and fixed a glare on Rowen.  “That is something you already know. _Old man_.”

The old man smiled slyly and began playing with his beard with one hand.

“Remind this old man, if you will? I’m afraid I cannot seem to remember.”

“He had his own path to follow. He cannot serve me while he has his duty to finish. I acknowledged this and so I have not asked again.”

“And so, when spyrite technology is fully realized, I wonder if you intend to ask again?”

Gaius’ eye twitched at the use of the word ‘ _wonder_ ’ again. He was not, at all, pleased by Rowen’s plans, whatever they were.

“What is your goal, _old man_?” He knit his eyebrows together in a deep frown, intent on fully expressing his discontent at his Prime Minister’s probing.

“If there is one thing Wingul of the Ebon Wing taught me, it is that there is a benefit to acting on instinct sometimes,” Rowen began. “Years ago, when you set out to pursue Muzet, Wingul sought to, well, put simply… eradicate Jude in your absence.”

“I’m well aware of that, but I do not see where you are going with this.”

“I see now, why he felt the need to take such drastic measures.” Rowen turned to look at him, possibly, to check if he still had Gaius’ full attention. (He did.)

“You see, Wingul was able to detect something before any of us could. He saw it as a threat and, naturally, saw it as his duty to stamp it out before it could cause great damage.”

“Your point, _old man._ You are stalling.”

“That I am,” Rowen smiled, before adapting a serious tone and expression next. “It’s Jude.”

“Jude.” Gaius repeated and, in a burst of anger, drew his sword and pointed its tip at Rowen. “Enough beating around the bush. State your business.”

Rowen did not flinch from the sudden gesture, though, by now he was arguably used to Gaius’ occasional outbursts.

“Jude has always had the power to influence you. Whether it is by his determination, or dedication to his cause… or, as of late, his invaluable friendship with you.”

Gaius took a deep calming breath, and lowered his sword. “Do you wish to inform me that you see this influence as being harmful?”

“Is that how you see it then?” Rowen asked back.

When Gaius said nothing, Rowen continued to explain. “For months now, I have seen you take special interest in young Jude’s welfare. I have watched your friendship grow and seen how Jude strengthened your bond not just with himself but with the others as well.” He paused here, as if to let Gaius brace himself. “And forgive me, as this may seem presumptuous of me; but I did begin to wonder if there was something more at work?”

At that question, Rowen’s full intent became clear to Gaius. His understanding, however, did little to stop the little stuttering in his chest, or the tightening of his jaws as he hesitated to answer. It would have been easy to deny the existence of _something more_ – as Rowen put it – but hesitation stayed him. It was not an emotion he wished to entertain – it was dangerous to entertain on the battlefield, and a slight hesitation could be seen as a weakness in the table of negotiation – but he could not completely stamp it out.

He was human, after all. He told Jude just that.

“I wish to do something, as well, in the face of this revelation.”

Gaius put away his sword, and turned his back on Rowen. He supposed that was answer enough, but it was a way to avoid further scrutiny as well.

“What is it that you wish to do, Rowen?”

“I wish to ascertain your feelings, if you will, for Jude. Whether it is platonic, or otherwise. It is clear to me, at the very least, that this is a matter that will weigh heavily on you in the coming future, especially as Exodus turns its eyes on Jude.”

“Jude will not be a hindrance in any way. No matter what you may presume I feel for him,” Gaius said firmly. His chest felt tight, forcing him to take deep and deliberate breathes. He could feel anger welling up inside of him – too tiny to burst out, but still present. He didn’t understand why. “I hold the fate of my country and people in above all. I will continue to do so for as long as I live. Bear that in mind.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

Gaius turned sharply at Rowen. The old man’s visage was unreadable, a veritable poker face.

After a tense moment, Rowen sighed and slowly broke into a smile. “My dear Gaius, my concern is with you. It is you who said Jude must take care of himself for the benefit of the world, and with that in mind, I wish for you to ensure your well being as well. Emotionally, that is.” He paused. “If you do have feelings greater than friendship for Jude, it is your decision whether you accept it, or not. As your Prime Minister, I can only accept whichever path you may take.”

“But as a _friend_ , I wish you would follow your heart. These mushy feelings of ours, like love and friendship, need not be thrown away or brushed aside all the time. They can exist beside ambition and it will be a very sad day indeed to be able to reach the heights of your ambition, but be bereft of love.”

Having finished his speech, Rowen took another deep breath and walked up to Gaius. He placed a hand on the younger man’s shoulder and gave it a little pat.

“Please think on this, your majesty. And have a good night.”

Rowen made a formal bow before continuing on, hands on his back. As he disappeared back into another hallway, Gaius could hear him hum an old familiar ditty.

He remained, alone, in stunned silence.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

 

Sleep hadn’t been easy to come that night, for various reasons. When he did slip into that peaceful slumber, however, he dreamt.

Milla was there, in his dream, standing beside him. There were on a hill somewhere, overlooking the ocean. There were clockwork-like structures rising up from those waters, painted orange from the setting sun, and he realized that they must be looking at the place where the schism was.

He thought, clearly then, how they must be somewhere near Marksburg… though, he also knew that that wasn’t a particularly important fact.

“I see you did find someone,” Milla said. Jude took in the sound of that voice; a part of him knew it was a dream and wondered if that was really the way Milla sounded.

Jude sighed before giving her a single nod.  “I don’t really know yet... for sure. But it’s definitely someone.”

Milla studied his face, before tilting her head and planting a hand on her hip. “You humans can be so uncertain of yourselves.”

Jude chuckled. “We can’t really help it. Human hearts aren’t so simple.”

She arched an eyebrow, amused. Before she spoke again, Jude had a feeling he knew what she would say already.

“I’m willing to see it through, anyway. If I have the chance to. You can’t grow if you don’t try new things, right?” His voice cracked a little at the end.

Milla nodded, in what was clearly approval.

He bit his lower lip and took a deep breath. It made him feel like his throat was burning as he drew that breath and his eyes felt a bit heavy.

“Thank you, Milla,” he forced out of his tightening throat. “And I’m sorry.”

She shook her head, chuckling lightly. Then, she placed her hand over his head and pulled him close, like a mother would to her child.

“It’s all right, Jude. It’s all right.”

 

* * *

 

 

He must have cried.

He thought as much when he woke up with dampness around his eyes. Beside him, on the night table, his GHS blared its ringtone loudly, reminding him that he’d forgotten once again to switch it to vibrate mode before bed. He sincerely hoped it didn’t wake anyone else up.

“It’s 3 am, this better be—“ the words died on his lips when he read the caller ID.

_Gaius_.

He snatched the GHS from the night table and cradled it in his hands but didn’t answer just yet. He stared at Gaius’ name. He didn’t know if he had it in him to talk to Gaius so soon, especially after his conversation with Leia.

He hesitated too long and before he knew it, his GHS had stopped ringing. His shoulder sagged in relief. Crisis averted… for now.

_But what if it really is an emergency? Gaius wouldn’t call otherwise._ His sensible side argued.

When he thought about it, too, he realized it couldn’t be an accidental call. He didn’t think Gaius slept with his GHS beside him, and even if that were true, it was an absolute stretch to imagine Gaius somehow pressing all the right buttons in his sleep to make a call. (He couldn’t even manage to do that with so much ease when he was awake… )

It must be important, he decided, and so resolved to call back. He took a deep breath and dialled.

He expected to wait a while. Gaius might have decided to sleep and call him again in the morning, when he was _supposed to be_ awake.

But then Gaius was there, picking up the call before the first set of rings were even finished. At the sound of his deep voice, Jude couldn’t help but take a very deep breath. His heart skipped a little. Just a little. Just as it always did, even before when he was just King of Rieze Maxia to Jude.

“Jude. You _are_ awake.”

Jude bit back the sarcastic remark. This was important, he reminded himself, and so he decided to treat it as such.

“Yeah. Is something wrong Gaius?”  

“My apologies if I woke you up.”

Jude shook his head, already feeling his irritation melting away.

“It’s all right. I was… gonna wake up anyway. Anyway, if it’s important, I don’t really mind being woken up.”

A pause. Jude immediately wondered if he’d said something.

“Gaius?”

“Some matters have come to my attention, recently.” He sounded oddly constrained and Jude couldn’t quite make out what expression he was making on the other end of the line. “I felt the need to address it as soon as possible.”

“It… must be really serious,” Jude whispered. Considering that Gaius felt the need to call immediately…

When Gaius continued, his voice was quiet, almost vulnerable. “I could not afford to wait.”

“… Why?” Jude asked hesitantly and, already, he could feel his heart steadily increase its pace. _Anticipation_.

“It will be all too easy to simply let it be, otherwise.”

Jude nodded once. He understood that feeling, even if he didn’t really understand what it was Gaius wanted to do. Not yet, anyway. He had a feeling that part was coming.

“Jude,” Gaius’s tone was firm and resolute, it had the effect of making Jude sit up straighter.

“Y-yes?”

“I care for you.”

Jude felt like his heart just tried to leap out of his chest. He held a hand to his chest and sure enough, he felt his heart beating wildly.

“Deep enough that it may be something more.”

Jude climbed out of his bed and wandered to the living room, where sat on the sofa and leaned back. “Gaius,” he managed to say when it was clear Gaius was waiting for his response.

“After much deliberation, I decided… that I am willing to explore this feeling. I remain devoted to my cause and, as such, I must always choose Rieze Maxia and the good of all people…  and there may come a time that I may abandon you—“ Gaius paused. “But know that, you….  I’m willing to put above everyone else, except those.”

If Leia heard this, Jude was sure she was going to say it wasn’t romantic at all. But it was definitely a confession and one only Gaius could make.

He still had to ask, though. “Gaius… are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

He didn’t respond. Not immediately, anyway. “Yes.” There was a long pause, and then in what resembled mumbling which was somewhat uncharacteristic of Gaius. “I like you.”

Jude pictured Gaius in his mind, frowning but hopelessly red in the face. He was helpless to the laughter that rose up from his chest.

“Jude.” _I’m being serious here_ , that tone told Jude.

“Sorry,” Jude paused and then smiled. In an instant, he thought of Milla; she taught him to always be decisive. “I like you too,” he said without hesitation.

“As a friend?”

“I… I don’t think so? But I’m willing to see how far we’ll go.”

“Is that… gentle rejection?”

Jude shook his head. He was still smiling and somehow, he had a feeling he’d be smiling later too, long after this conversation. “No. At least…. I hope not. Did it sound like that?”

“… I cannot tell.”

“I guess that’s true, you can’t really see me… and I can’t see you either,” Jude took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “So … how about… we have coffee tomorrow? Or… well, _later_.” With the deal with Exodus, he realized Gaius might be swamped with all that followed a disaster like that. He added, “… If you’re free.”

He couldn’t see Gaius, but he felt like he could hear a smile his voice.

“Rieze Maxia will be fine for a few hours tomorrow, Jude.”

Jude thought that was as good as a ‘Yes’ right there.

 

 


End file.
